Paul Andrew Parker (born 4 April 1964) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player, he was a full back most notably with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

with whom he won two

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

titles, an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and the Charity Shield. He also played in the top flight for both

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, as well having as spells in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. He later played non-league football with

Heybridge Swifts Heybridge Swifts Football Club is a football club based in Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Scraley Road. History The club was established in 1880 as Heybridge Football Club. After joining t ...

and

Farnborough Town Farnborough Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. Founded in 1967 as Farnborough Town, they are currently members of the , the sixth tier of English football and play at Cherrywood Road. H ...

until retiring in 1997. Internationally, Parker earned 19 caps for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and played at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being M ...

. He had spells as a manager from 2001 to 2005 with

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members o ...

and

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

, later taking up a role as assistant manager at

Folkestone Invicta Folkestone Invicta Football Club is a association football, football club based in Folkestone, Kent, England. They are currently members of the and play at Cheriton Road. History The club was established in 1936 and joined the East Kent Wedne ...

before becoming a television pundit with

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

Early life

He attended Sanders Draper School in Hornchurch.

Club career

Parker started his career with

before joining QPR, where he made his name as a nippy and incisive centre back, even though he lacked the height normally associated with his position. During this period, Parker was sold by QPR to Manchester United for £2 million on 8 August 1991, and he made his debut (now as a specialist right back) against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

the same month. Parker's five-year career at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

began well enough but was eventually blighted frequently by injury and as the club began to dominate the English game under

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

, Parker struggled to maintain his fitness. He won a

winners medal in 1992, a Premiership title medal a year later, and another Premiership title medal and the

a further year on. The last two years though saw Parker's inability to stay fit coupled with the emergence of

Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...

, who ultimately replaced Parker at right back for both club and country. Parker missed most of the 1994–95 season through injury, and despite regaining his fitness for the 1995–96, he could not displace Neville and was freed at the end of the campaign. Although United won a second double, he did not play in enough

games for a title medal, and did not feature in the

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...

squad. Parker then signed for

, who had just been promoted to the Premier League, but could not win a regular first team place and signed for

in November 1996. A brief spell back at

, in their Division Three promotion campaign, followed. Later in the 1996–97 season, he played in four games for

(one start and three substitute appearances) during an injury crisis at

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

, although he did not feature in the

triumph that ended Chelsea's 26-year trophy drought. After ending his professional career he entered the non-League scene with a move to

Garry Hill Garry Hill is an English football manager who was last the manager of National League club Ebbsfleet United. He previously managed Woking, Heybridge Swifts, St Albans City, Dagenham & Redbridge, Hornchurch, Weymouth and Rushden & Diamonds. ...

. Parker previously played under Hill at Chelmsford Sunday League club Priory Sports, alongside

Alan Brazil Alan Bernard Brazil (born 15 June 1959) is a Scottish broadcaster and former football player, most notably for Ipswich Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and internationally for Scotland. He played as a forward before being forced to r ...

and

Micky Droy Micky Droy (born 7 May 1951 in Highbury, London) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League during the 1970s and 1980s, spending 15 years with Chelsea but also playing for Luton Town, Crystal Palace and Brentford. Playing ...

International career

His prowess was noticed by England coach

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

who, establishing he could also play at right back, gave him his international debut against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

in 1989. He had already appeared three times for the England B side, but was racially abused by England's own fans in a 2–0 win over the

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

B side in

on 19 May 1989. Parker continued to play centrally for his club while deputising for the first-choice Gary Stevens on the right side of defence for country. He was selected as Stevens' back-up for the 1990 World Cup in Italy but, with Stevens putting in a disappointing display in the opening 1–1 draw with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, Parker was put in the team, just five caps into his career. He stayed there, playing comfortably behind

Chris Waddle Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He currently works as a commentator. Nicknamed "Magic Chris", football journalist Luke Ginnell wrote that Waddle was "widely ackn ...

as England progressed through their group and as far as the semi-finals, where they met

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. In the warm-up before the semi-final, Parker said in a 2022 interview with ''EnglandFootball.org'' that he "felt numb" because he was "too nervous to feel nervous." During the match, two incidents would define Parker's career. With the score at 0–0, the Germans won a free kick just outside the England penalty area early in the second half and as the ball was tapped to

Andreas Brehme Andreas "Andy" Brehme (; born 9 November 1960) is a German football coach and former football defender. At international level, he is best known for scoring the winning goal for Germany in the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final against Argentina from a ...

, Parker sprinted from the defensive wall to try to block the shot. Instead, it clipped off him at such an angle that the ball looped high into the air and swirled round and over goalkeeper

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in ...

and into the net. The goal was credited to Brehme, but Parker managed to make amends with fewer than ten minutes to play. Collecting the ball down the right flank, he looked up and sent a high and dangerous ball towards

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...

. The German defenders got in each other's way and Lineker found room to score with a far post shot. The game ended 1–1 and England departed on penalties. Stevens was recalled for the third-place play off match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

but Parker came on as a sub and unfortunately conceded the penalty from which

Salvatore Schillaci Salvatore Schillaci (; born 1 December 1964), commonly referred to by his nickname Totò, is an Italian former professional association football, footballer, who played as a striker (association football), striker. During his club career, he pl ...

scored the winning goal. However Parker emerged from the tournament as one of England's many successes. However, it did not help him curry favour with Robson's replacement as England coach,

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

, who chose

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Lee Dixon Lee Michael Dixon (born 17 March 1964) is an English retired professional footballer and pundit who played as a right-back for Arsenal. Dixon was also capped 22 times for England. A childhood Manchester City fan, Dixon began his footballing ca ...

several times over the next few months, including all bar one of the qualifiers for

Euro 92 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

. Parker, Dixon, Stevens and Rob Jones were all injured for the tournament itself in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, so Taylor had to pick a central defender to play at right back and England were dismissed at the group stage. Parker missed out on almost 18 months of international football but in October 1993 he was called up by Taylor for a vital qualifier for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. England lost 2–0 and Parker's hope of reaching a second World Cup were gone. When

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...

took over as England coach in 1994, he called up Parker for his first game in charge – a 1–0 win over

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

but then looked at other right backs, including Jones, before installing

as his first choice the following year. Parker's England career, which had reached such a high four years earlier, was over after just 19 appearances.

Managerial and coaching career

After retiring from playing, Parker became director of football at Ashford Town, before departing, alongside manager George Wakeling, in January 2000. Later that year, Parker joined

's coaching staff. Following

Gary Bellamy Gary Bellamy (born 4 July 1962) is an English former professional footballer. He began his career at Chesterfield, making over 150 appearances for the club before joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1987. He helped the club to back-to-back promot ...

's departure to

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

, he became manager of Chelmsford in June 2001. On 18 August 2001, Parker managed his first game for Chelmsford, resulting in a 1–1 draw away to

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...

. In May 2003, after Parker's relationship with Chelmsford chairman Peter Wright broke down, he left the club. He later managed

and was assistant manager at

. In 2009, Parker was named as a coaching consultant and game development officer for

Football Federation Northern Territory Football Northern Territory (FNT) is the state governing body for soccer in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the national governing body. The Territory is also separated into three zones – Northern, ...

in Australia.

Managerial statistics

Media career

Paul has ventured into media punditry and was the lead co-commentator with

Steve Bower Stephen Robert Bower is an English football commentator, one of the main voices for BBC TV's Match of the Day, culminating in being part of the commentary teams for the 2010, 2014, and 2018 FIFA World Cups. Bower commentated on New Zealand's ...

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

' live

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

coverage. From 2011, Parker has worked as a pundit on

ESPN Star Sports Fox Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of Sta ...

Astro SuperSport Astro SuperSport is an English language in-house subscription satellite television network in Malaysia dedicated to broadcasting sports-related content 24 hours a day. It is available on the Astro via Channels 810 & 831 (HD) to subscribers of ...

in Malaysia, Mio Stadium and

Channel NewsAsia CNA (stylised as cna), which is an acronym derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singaporean multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in Sin ...

in Singapore. He also writes a blog on Yahoo Eurosport. Besides this, he also travelled to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup to provide media analysis and coverage. This was the first World Cup he has attended since he participated as a player.

Personal life

Parker was born in England to Jamaican parents. Parker's nephew is

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

full-back

Ben Johnson Ben, Benjamin or Benny Johnson may refer to: In sports Association football * Ben Johnson (footballer, born 2000), English footballer * Ben Johnson (soccer) (born 1977), American soccer player Other codes of football *Ben Johnson (Australian foot ...

Honours

Manchester United *

: 1992–93, 1993–94 *

: 1993–94 *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 1991–92 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Paul 1964 births Living people Black British sportspeople Footballers from West Ham English footballers Association football fullbacks Fulham F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Heybridge Swifts F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players National League (English football) players England under-21 international footballers England B international footballers England international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players English football managers Welling United F.C. managers Chelmsford City F.C. managers Chelmsford City F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Southern Football League managers Isthmian League managers English people of Jamaican descent FA Cup Final players