Last summer, Scott Parker was faced with a career crossroads. Tossed out of White Hart Lane as a seemingly spent force at 32 years of age, he was faced with two options - link up with old boss Harry Redknapp at QPR in the Championship and lead the promotion charge, or try and prove a point to the nay-sayers who decreed that he was finished in the Premier League, by taking up the hilt at Fulham. As it happens, the Cottagers went through three managers in a disastrous 12-month spell, culminating in relegation, passing out Redknapp's QPR on the way. ''I'm not one to look back, and sure, QPR was an opportunity for me - but I made a decision and I stick by it. I signed a contract and unless anybody high up tells me different, I'm here and I'll try my hardest to push the club in the right direction.'' - Scott Parker, August 2014. With QPR having agreed a fee with Spurs for the former White Hart Lane skipper, Redknapp will have felt aggrieved to have missed out on the former England international.
''We agreed terms with Tottenham, so it is up to Scott now what he does and to make his mind up whether he wants to come or not. There was an agreement with us and Tottenham but he can go where he wants. We have made a good offer to Scott. Sometimes you can have more enjoyment playing for a team who are looking to go somewhere than at a team who are maybe hanging on in the Premier League with no real chance of winning anything or getting in the top six and maybe being in a battle all year to stay in the division.'' - Harry Redknapp, August 2013.
With the disastrous year that Parker has just experienced, maybe he will recognise a bit of truth laden in his old boss' words.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
