Scott Parker (footballer)

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Personal information
Scott Parker
Full name	Scott Matthew Parker
Date of birth	October 13, 1980 (age 26)
Place of birth	Lambeth, London, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75m)
Nickname	Scotty P The Hardman Sparker
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Newcastle United
Number	17
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–2004 2000 2004–05 2005–present	Charlton Athletic → Norwich City (loan) Chelsea Newcastle United	128 (9) 006 (1) 015 (1) 053 (4)
National team²
2003–present	England	003 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:14, 4 April 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 12:00, 24 December 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Scott Matthew Parker (born October 13, 1980) is an English football player and the current captain of Newcastle United. He is a midfielder, who has represented England at every level; from under-15 to senior, for whom he has made one start and two substitute appearances.

1 Player Profile
2 Statistics
3 Trivia
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Player Profile

[edit] Charlton Athletic

Scott Parker was born in Lambeth, London and attended Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College in New Cross Gate. He 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 1997-08-23, 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 soon became the linchpin of Charlton's midfield, combining tenacious tackling with an ability to carry the ball quickly from defence to attack and play telling passes, creating many chances for his teammates. It was not long before England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson gave Parker his international debut. This came on 2003-11-16 against Denmark as a substitute, England lost the game 3-2.

[edit] Chelsea

Parker, who had been consistently linked with moves away from Charlton for several years, finally left the Valley on 2004-01-30 to join Chelsea for a fee of £10m, after a protracted and acrimonious transfer saga in which Parker is rumoured to have refused to train for Charlton. Parker was initially signed as cover for Claude Makélélé and Frank Lampard, but played most of his games for Chelsea as a winger. He scored his only goal for Chelsea against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Within just two months of signing for Chelsea, he made another substitute appearance for England on 2004-03-31, this time against Sweden. At the end of the 2003-04 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 2006-12-18, he broke a metatarsal bone in a game against his former club, Norwich City. This injury, coupled with the signing of Jiří Jarošík, served to add to the rumours that he would be sold by José Mourinho in the summer.

[edit] Newcastle United

Parker was indeed sold the following summer, moving to Newcastle United on 2005-06-15 for a fee of £6.5m. A move to Everton had stalled previously due to wage demands. Still, he did end his association with Chelsea with a Premiership champion's medal and a League Cup winner's medal.

Since joining Newcastle, Parker has once again become a first-team regular in the Premiership. He has been one of the few players at the club to have shown any consistency during an often difficult season; Newcastle finished in 7th place, despite having a very poor start under Graeme Souness.

In March 2006 he was diagnosed with glandular fever, putting an end to his season. Indeed, it turned out that Parker had played two games with the condition, showing his incredible drive and durability once again. The timing was especially unfortunate for Parker, who had been playing well for Newcastle, as it ended any hopes he may have had of forcing his way into the England squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On 2006-07-14 he was named Newcastle United's new captain by manager Glenn Roeder. His first goal as captain came against Wigan Athletic on 2006-08-19. Ironically, it was when he was taken off, that Newcastle conceded 2 goals and subsequently lost the game. Despite Newcastle's poor form, he has excelled in this role and his impressive performances earned him a recall to the England squad on September 29, after an absence of more than two years, and a place in the starting line-up for England's European Championships qualifier away to Croatia on 2006-10-11. Parker was restricted to tracking back and covering due to the attacking players in the team like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. England boss Steve McClaren especially told the no nonsense hardman to chase the wingers and assist the two wing backs, Gary Neville and Ashley Cole. On 7 November Parker made a lung bursting run to score a goal in the 116th minute against Watford in the Carling Cup. He then scored in the penalty shoot-out, to allow Newcastle to progress in the competition. He scored his 4th goal of the 2006-07 season season against Tottenham on 2006-12-23.

The papers linked the hardman midfielder with an £11m move to West Ham, in which Newcastle would receive Nigel Reo-Coker in return. However, Glenn Roeder told the Newcastle official website that Parker was going nowhere and that he will be essential to his plans.

Scott Parker was found to be the second best player in the country for December 2006 by Sky Sports and Opta Index. Parker made 25 crunching tackles and scored one goal against Tottenham Hotspur, on Saturday 23 December. Parker was presented with the UEFA Intertoto Cup plaque on 8 March, 2007 before the UEFA Cup first leg tie with AZ Alkmaar, which Newcastle incidentally won 4-2.

[edit] Statistics

**Club Performance**
Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
Club	Season	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Newcastle United FC	2005-06	20	1	2	1	2	0	1	0	0	0	25	2
Chelsea FC	2004-05	4	0	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	0	7	0
Chelsea FC	2003-04	11	1	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	12	1
Charlton Athletic	2003-04	20	2	0	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	22	3
	2002-03	28	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	4
	2001-02	36	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	39	1
	2000-01	15	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	19	1
Norwich City FC	2000-01	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
Charlton Athletic	1999-2000	5	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
	1998-99	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1997-98	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total		138	11	7	1	13	1	8	0	0	0	156	13

[edit] Trivia

Is a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur.^[1]
As a 13 year old Parker appeared in a well known British advert for McDonald's, in which he played keepie uppie during their 1994 World Cup campaign.^[2]
Parker won his three England caps while playing for three different clubs.