Scott Parker
Scott Matthew Parker, (born October 13 1980), is an English football player, currently playing for Newcastle United. He is a midfielder, who has represented England at every level; from under-15 to a handful of senior appearances. As a 13 year old Parker appeared in a well known British advert for McDonald's, where he played keepie uppie.
Parker was born in Lambeth, London, and is a graduate of the FA's, now defunct, national school of excellence at Lilleshall. After graduating he signed for Charlton Athletic and made his debut as a substitute against Bury in the first division on August 23 1997, a game which ended 0-0. He signed his first professional contract with the club two months later. Over the next couple of years he made only a few sporadic substitute appearances for Charlton, although he was one of the brightest prospects in English football.
In October 2000 Charlton, now in the Premier League, loaned Parker to First Division side Norwich City F.C. for two months to give the England under-21 some first team experience. On his return to The Valley Parker was immediately called into the first team to replace injured captain Mark Kinsella. Parker played so well for Charlton that, upon his return from injury, Kinsella could not regain his place in the starting lineup.
Parker, despite his relative inexperience, was named as Charlton's captain for the next season, his natural talent and high workrate making him the ideal choice for the role. It was not long before England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson gave Parker his international debut. This came on January 16 2003 against Denmark as a substitute, England lost the game 3-2. Since then Parker has only made one more appearance for England, again as a substitute, against Sweden.
Parker, who had been consistently linked with moves away from Charlton for several years, finally left the Valley on January 30 2004 to join Chelsea for a fee of £10m. Parker was initially signed as cover for Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard, but played most of his games for Chelsea as a winger. At the end of the 2004 season Parker was named as the PFA Young Player of the Year.
Following the summer signings of Arjen Robben, and Tiago, Parker's first team opportunities were extremely limited during the 2004/05 season. His problems were compounded when on December 18 he broke a metatarsal bone in a game against his former club, Norwich City. This injury, coupled with the signing of Jirí Jarošik, served to add to the rumours that he would be sold by Jose Mourinho in the summer.
Parker was indeed sold the following summer, moving to Newcastle United on 15 June 2005 for a fee of £6.5m.
Clubs
- Charlton Athletic (1997-2004)
- Norwich City (2000, loan)
- Chelsea (2004-2005)
- Newcastle United (2005-present)