The Daily Mail carries an interesting insight tonight into just how acrimonious Scott Parker’s final hours at Fulham became.
Fulham apparently barred Parker from their Motspur Park training ground as he prepared to part ways with the Championship club and take over at Bournemouth. The 40 year-old was denied the chance to pick up his personal belongings and say goodbye to club staff having been in Portugal on holiday. Fulham didn’t want the integrity of their premises compromised as they opened up again for pre-season training, but the club were also miffed by the actions of their manager, who had initially demanded a hefty pay-off as he manoeuvred his way towards the exit door.
If true, sad for both parties!
If true fully understandable
I’m with Parker on all of this rift. He really cared about Fulham. He also knew that things had to change to stop Fulham continuing as what we are – a yo-yo club. However, the changes he wanted to implement didn’t fit with the Khan’s control of the club and that’s why the rift developed.
Parker moved on because he wasn’t allowed to make the changes he knew were required. Who knows more about football – Parker or Tony Khan?
I already hear fans saying we will be great in the Championship and Mitro will get us back up. Probably all correct but then we are back where we were. Nowhere near good enough the for the Prem and loaning in loads of players at the last minute.
Good luck at Bournemouth Parker. I hope you do well.
I have to say I think Parker has really soured his reputation with how this has been handled. If he wanted to leave, he could have resigned saying that his position was untenable and he wished to manage somewhere else. Instead, he appears to have tried to hold the club to ransom – seeking compensation that he wasn’t entitled to.
I have some sympathy with the view that he may have been disadvantaged by the recruitment set up at Fulham. But this problem is hardly new. Jokanovic was vocal about the situation and Parker opted to join his coaching staff after that. He was there under Claudio Ranieri and would have known what his working conditions would have been like when he applied for the job. It’s all a bit convenient to turn round now and say it was the reason for him walking away – he wasn’t complaining when we went up at Wembley was he?
I don’t actually wish him any ill will, but I do wonder what the reasons were for us getting two points from a possible thirty at the end of the season after we had just beaten Liverpool. Maybe he had that Bournemouth offer in his back pocket the whole time?
It is what it is. There is no sentiment in corporate business. Sport is only a loose term these days. The truth is we have bought into Fulham PLC not the good old Fulham FC.
There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things and I’m afraid that trying to get a payoff for a job you clearly should be resigning from isn’t the way to go. Parker has severly tarnished his otherwise good reputation.
I am with Andrew Stanley on this. Everyone who worked with him at the club talked about he created a genuine team spirit with all who worked at the club. But he clearly asked for change at the top in his last media appearance and that meant recruitment. He might well have heard Jokanovic’s complaints but probably had hoped for better–hope is a human characteristic–but it didn’t happen. We do not know whether it was he personally asked for a settlement. I wish him well too as he joins not a Premier League club but a Championship which he wouldn’t have been yearning for and letting us go down the chute. He backed Fulham till the end. However, let’s see if Marco Silva can benefit from lessons learned? Interesting that Shahid Khan went to Portugal and not Tony Khan. Let’s hope that is a trend that continues and that we can get back to being more of a normal club.
I agree with most of the above comments, but the thing is Parker was to in flexible with his tactics all the sideways and backwards passing just to keep the ball , if you have Man City players you can do it otherwise you have to be able to change formation to suit the opponent’s. Bournemouth will find out
Trying to get a pay off from a job you shoild be resigning from is common practice in football. I thought Parker was a touch too negative tactically but did well to compete with the squad he was given. The failure of the club in both ransfer windows was by far the biggest factor in their relegation.
Might be worth remembering that way back in the 1930s the Mail was nicknamed the Daily Liar. Maybe a leopard doesn’t change its spots.Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.
Parker wanted to leave, had already secured another job, and tried to hold out for a payoff. Pretty low behaviour if you ask me. If you’re unhappy with your first real managerial job and the multi-million pound contract you were given then resign.
Yes TK didnt recruit well but that doesnt entitle you to hold the club to ransom for a payoff.
I’m glad he is gone. His football was boring. His alienation of our only centre forward was stupid. The thought of more sideways football and Cav upfront is too depressing to contemplate.
Silva is our manager now. Pick your belongings up from security Parker. Simple as that
What a non-story. If he’d been on holiday to Portugal, then this is obvious.
Standard. If you contract is cancelled you cant come back on site. This is a non-story
Proves football is a business not a sport played by mercenaries.
I agree with most of the above comments.I was against Parker from when he took over and failed miserably in the last ten games.
I will be surprised if he makes good at Bournmouth.I think if you really have ambitions to stay in the Premiership you need to win the Championship and win well !
I can tell you that afcb fans are very happy to have Scott Parker on board . I watched a lot of Fulham games last season , I thought they played attractive football , with limited resources , against the Premier Behemoths . Much of last season we were lacking the Eddie Howe touch . Parker seems to be in the same mould , so we could be one to watch this season .
I think that the SP has to work hard on itself and educate itself. The good thing about him is that he goes to a smaller club. He failed to improve the team, on the contrary. He barely managed to participate in the Premier League with a team that had enough quality to enter without a playoff. In the Premier League, with his insane moves, he dismantled the team and the game he inherited. Had he stayed, Fulham would have struggled to survive in the championship. Desperate coach.
Parker was good for FFC. He took the sorry lot that Tony put together without leaving Jacksonville and made them as competitive as possible. Point the finger at Tony not Scott. Tony wants to act like a director of football operations and in truth he is just that- an actor. Until we have a knowledgeable director of football operations we will have mediocre
players and continue to be a yo-yo club. If Tony wants to learn football he needs to move his bum to London and get vested in the club.
What can Parker expect he had already put it on the line with Bournemouth & arranged his backroom staff before he was allowed to speak to them
He don’t deserve a penny from the club.
Mr Silva need to talk to the fans. We haven’t heard a thing from him since he got the job.
Wrong manager
Bye bye Scott, a non story really, welcome Marco silva he is the story ,he’s hungary a coach of with a point to prove. Some of the others touted around mr angry neil lennon,I won’t 4 million pay of chris wilder , and the guy at Swansea have u watched the boring crap they churn out, fulham have done well rejoice.