The other thing people overlook was the impact on Curbishley. For him, this was a very direct betrayal and left him feeling (rightly as it turned out) that it was impossible for him to take Charlton any further than mid table.
Not really sure about that.
Didn't we buy the likes of Murphy ,Rommedahl and Bent with the money?
(Apologies for original type as @SoundAsa£ pointed out...)
He told us as much at a sponsors' dinner, so it comes from the man himself. Yes, he had money to spend, but in lots of ways, Parker was irreplaceable. He was personally quite deeply hurt by it at the time, though he soldiered on afterwards.
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
Grown men, carrying a grudge for 20 years and complaining the player they hate didn't mention us in a newspaper.
I do agree with you, I still admire Scott deeply as a player and think he didn't reach his full potential because he moved on too soon and to the wrong club.
But I remember I was 10/11 when he left. He was by far my favourite player, homegrown, played in the same position as me (midfield) and was brilliant. I was completely gutted when he left and I lost interest in football for a couple of years or so because of it, along with me being far better cricket player than footballer! It just makes me sad when I see him play, that he could've been a mainstay in an England midfield and winning champions league at Man Utd.
The other thong people overlook was the impact on Curbishley. For him, this was a very direct betrayal and left him feeling (rightly as it turned out) that it was impossible for him to take Charlton any further than mid table.
I don't think Curbs choice of underwear ever stretched to a thong.....still, maybe you know something the rest of us don't.........you saucy thing!
Can I just say, I've seen Curbs in his underpants. Seriously. I did a season-long column with him at a magazine I was working on. Got to Sparrows Lane at the arranged time and he started undressing in front of me to change into his training kit. So I can tell you with absolute certainty, he wears briefs.
Grown men, carrying a grudge for 20 years and complaining the player they hate didn't mention us in a newspaper.
Only in the football world mate (a little bit like my nan booing at the box when Mick McManus come on). I reckon most people who didn't like the way he conducted his final couple weeks at Charlton would be quite civil in a face to face meeting with the bloke
In the event I got into conversation with Mr Parker, I would be civil, but still let him know my annoyance at him leaving when he did. But if I am honest, I would rather not talk to him in the first place.
In the event I got into conversation with Mr Parker, I would be civil, but still let him know my annoyance at him leaving when he did. But if I am honest, I would rather not talk to him in the first place.
Can you blame him? Amount of crap he got for making the move and progressing his career away from Charlton. He was too good for Charlton and had every right to go to Chelsea to try and realise his potential.
Just like any individual in any trade, if someone comes sniffing offering a lot more money for your wares you would take it. Get over it.
Had a drink at Rochdale with a fan who's mate knows Parker, and he's told him he regrets leaving Charlton as he hardly got a sniff at Chelsea when he was in his prime, and Charlton were on an upward path. Bit late now, Scott.
In the event I got into conversation with Mr Parker, I would be civil, but still let him know my annoyance at him leaving when he did. But if I am honest, I would rather not talk to him in the first place.
Hit him round the head with a fire door mate
F*** me, you aint ever going to let that go are you :-)
In the event I got into conversation with Mr Parker, I would be civil, but still let him know my annoyance at him leaving when he did. But if I am honest, I would rather not talk to him in the first place.
Hit him round the head with a fire door mate
F*** me, you aint ever going to let that go are you :-)
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
Why is it that people who would always grab the cash, want to convince themselves that everyone else is the same? If you are like that, and you are happy with it, that's absolutely fine Greenie, but why not accept that people like me are not like that? It truly baffles me.
I would have told my son that £20k A WEEK, is a huge amount of money, more than I am earning a year. I would have explained how staying at Charlton for just four more months would have made him a hero, something money can't buy ( unless you are a super-rich club owner who decided to spend his cash on the club, rather than duck tape ), that if things carried on as they were, he would be able to boast how he had taken Charlton into Europe for the first time.
I would have pointed out that he was already being picked regularly for the England squad, and that he was almost certainly going to be fourth or fifth choice behind the current Chelsea midfield, which may well jeapordise his chances of going to Portugal in the summer.
Finally I would have said that yes, he can double his earnings now. But a successful Euros, and a top six finish with Charlton would add to both his value and the choices of clubs available in the summer.
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
Why is it that people who would always grab the cash, want to convince themselves that everyone else is the same? If you are like that, and you are happy with it, that's absolutely fine Greenie, but why not accept that people like me are not like that? It truly baffles me.
I would have told my son that £20k A WEEK, is a huge amount of money, more than I am earning a year. I would have explained how staying at Charlton for just four more months would have made him a hero, something money can't buy ( unless you are a super-rich club owner who decided to spend his cash on the club, rather than duck tape ), that if things carried on as they were, he would be able to boast how he had taken Charlton into Europe for the first time.
I would have pointed out that he was already being picked regularly for the England squad, and that he was almost certainly going to be fourth or fifth choice behind the current Chelsea midfield, which may well jeapordise his chances of going to Portugal in the summer.
Finally I would have said that yes, he can double his earnings now. But a successful Euros, and a top six finish with Charlton would add to both his value and the choices of clubs available in the summer.
Absolutely this. Nowadays rich foreign investors with no regard for fans, managers or players' welfare are the norm, but back then Chelsea were the first to really experience that. I can't believe anyone would want their son to be an employee in that environment. SURELY even if you did want him to leave Charlton you'd encourage him to wait for the right club and right manager.
There are two aspects that those who say "we would have gone on to play in Europe" are, perhaps, forgetting - on the one hand, there is no guarantee that Parker would have remained fit or in the same form for the whole of the rest of the season and the other is our consistently horrendous run the side used to have under Curbs prior to the end of the season.
In the seven PL seasons under Curbs our form for the last 10 games reads:
W12 D19 L39
That's an average of less than 8 points per season for our final 10 games.
So who can realistically say, for an absolute fact, that it was all Scott Parker's fault that we didn't qualify for Europe?
We only needed 4 more points to finish 5th, having Parker could have easily made the difference.
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
Why is it that people who would always grab the cash, want to convince themselves that everyone else is the same? If you are like that, and you are happy with it, that's absolutely fine Greenie, but why not accept that people like me are not like that? It truly baffles me.
I would have told my son that £20k A WEEK, is a huge amount of money, more than I am earning a year. I would have explained how staying at Charlton for just four more months would have made him a hero, something money can't buy ( unless you are a super-rich club owner who decided to spend his cash on the club, rather than duck tape ), that if things carried on as they were, he would be able to boast how he had taken Charlton into Europe for the first time.
I would have pointed out that he was already being picked regularly for the England squad, and that he was almost certainly going to be fourth or fifth choice behind the current Chelsea midfield, which may well jeapordise his chances of going to Portugal in the summer.
Finally I would have said that yes, he can double his earnings now. But a successful Euros, and a top six finish with Charlton would add to both his value and the choices of clubs available in the summer.
Or you could encourage him to try and push his boundaries to be one of the best players in the world by joining a top club. He could eventually be someone like Frank Lampard who had a similar trajectory at the time that he left West Ham, who then went on to be Chelseas greatest ever goal scorer.
We now know that didn't exactly happen in retrospect, but your argument can work both ways and money can be left out of it still.
You could also remind him that it's a short career and that this opportunity might not come around again if he gets injured or if Chelsea go and buy someone else instead.
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
Why is it that people who would always grab the cash, want to convince themselves that everyone else is the same? If you are like that, and you are happy with it, that's absolutely fine Greenie, but why not accept that people like me are not like that? It truly baffles me.
I would have told my son that £20k A WEEK, is a huge amount of money, more than I am earning a year. I would have explained how staying at Charlton for just four more months would have made him a hero, something money can't buy ( unless you are a super-rich club owner who decided to spend his cash on the club, rather than duck tape ), that if things carried on as they were, he would be able to boast how he had taken Charlton into Europe for the first time.
I would have pointed out that he was already being picked regularly for the England squad, and that he was almost certainly going to be fourth or fifth choice behind the current Chelsea midfield, which may well jeapordise his chances of going to Portugal in the summer.
Finally I would have said that yes, he can double his earnings now. But a successful Euros, and a top six finish with Charlton would add to both his value and the choices of clubs available in the summer.
First off, I dont just grab the cash as you so eloquently put it, I do however think with my head and not with my heart, unlike others . If you advised your son to stay when Chelsea come calling, then that would be foolish advice - its 10 year career in the top flight, if you are lucky, and a career ending busted leg or another bad injury can be just round the corner and then what? Nothing, thats what, a big pile of fuck all. Also the top 6 was not guaranteed, or Euro footy, being a hero at Charlton, so what, being a hero at Chelsea is bigger, playing for a team where he actually has a good chance to win some trophies had to be the correct choice. Going to Chelsea in no way had a negative impact on his England career, not when the likes of Gerrard and Lampard are way ahead of him, as much as Parker was a dick for the way he behaved his career has been good, he has played for some very big teams, bigger than us, he is financially secure for life, I dont suppose he loses any sleep. That is the reality, anyone who thinks otherwise is living in fairytale land!
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
So what he should have done was ask for a transfer, not refuse to train or play
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
So what he should have done was ask for a transfer, not refuse to train or play
Yes he should have, but having being told he couldn't go and that it was his 'opportunity', what would you have done?
Cheer up and get the latest When Saturday Comes mag. Centre page spread of a true legend when beards were beards, centre forwards scored every week and we could score three away and errr still draw.
Still see it as the start of the demise of our club but don't blame Scotty Parker. Professional football is a short career and you never know when or if such an opportunity would come again. And as for saying he had no career after leaving us please get real. Scott has had an outstanding career by anyone's standards and has been appreciated by the fans of all the clubs he has played for. You only had to hear the ovation he received at Craven cottage yesterday and that is at 36 years when his best days are behind him. Some people need to get over it.
Still see it as the start of the demise of our club but don't blame Scotty Parker. Professional football is a short career and you never know when or if such an opportunity would come again. And as for saying he had no career after leaving us please get real. Scott has had an outstanding career by anyone's standards and has been appreciated by the fans of all the clubs he has played for. You only had to hear the ovation he received at Craven cottage yesterday and that is at 36 years when his best days are behind him. Some people need to get over it.
More money in the bank, and the sort of house, most of us could only dream of. True.
But a successful career? Put it this way - he won't need too big a trophy room in his pad. In fact, did he ever win a medal anywhere?
And the handful of caps he won bear no resemblance to the form he showed when playing for us.
Still see it as the start of the demise of our club but don't blame Scotty Parker. Professional football is a short career and you never know when or if such an opportunity would come again. And as for saying he had no career after leaving us please get real. Scott has had an outstanding career by anyone's standards and has been appreciated by the fans of all the clubs he has played for. You only had to hear the ovation he received at Craven cottage yesterday and that is at 36 years when his best days are behind him. Some people need to get over it.
More money in the bank, and the sort of house, most of us could only dream of. True.
But a successful career? Put it this way - he won't need too big a trophy room in his pad. In fact, did he ever win a medal anywhere?
And the handful of caps he won bear no resemblance to the form he showed when playing for us.
First Division with Charlton (18 League and Cup appearances that season) League Cup with Chelsea (11 League and Cup appearances that season yet missed the Final with injury)
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
Why is it that people who would always grab the cash, want to convince themselves that everyone else is the same? If you are like that, and you are happy with it, that's absolutely fine Greenie, but why not accept that people like me are not like that? It truly baffles me.
I would have told my son that £20k A WEEK, is a huge amount of money, more than I am earning a year. I would have explained how staying at Charlton for just four more months would have made him a hero, something money can't buy ( unless you are a super-rich club owner who decided to spend his cash on the club, rather than duck tape ), that if things carried on as they were, he would be able to boast how he had taken Charlton into Europe for the first time.
I would have pointed out that he was already being picked regularly for the England squad, and that he was almost certainly going to be fourth or fifth choice behind the current Chelsea midfield, which may well jeapordise his chances of going to Portugal in the summer.
Finally I would have said that yes, he can double his earnings now. But a successful Euros, and a top six finish with Charlton would add to both his value and the choices of clubs available in the summer.
And you could also have hypothetically told him that if he waits until the summer when in all likelihood the big bids do come in and he hasn't put in a transfer request he will get a percentage of the fee
Still see it as the start of the demise of our club but don't blame Scotty Parker. Professional football is a short career and you never know when or if such an opportunity would come again. And as for saying he had no career after leaving us please get real. Scott has had an outstanding career by anyone's standards and has been appreciated by the fans of all the clubs he has played for. You only had to hear the ovation he received at Craven cottage yesterday and that is at 36 years when his best days are behind him. Some people need to get over it.
More money in the bank, and the sort of house, most of us could only dream of. True.
But a successful career? Put it this way - he won't need too big a trophy room in his pad. In fact, did he ever win a medal anywhere?
And the handful of caps he won bear no resemblance to the form he showed when playing for us.
First Division with Charlton (18 League and Cup appearances that season) League Cup with Chelsea (11 League and Cup appearances that season yet missed the Final with injury)
In addition:
Represented England at every level from U16 to senior side
2003 Charlton Player Of The Year
2004 PL Runners Up Medal
2004 PFA Young Player Of The Year
2009 West Ham Player Of The Year
2010 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 Football Writers Player Of The Year
2012 Tottenham Player Of The Year
So, it rather depends how you define "winning something". Can't think of too many of our players in the last 50 years to beat that lot especially as these awards are voted, separately for, by the fans, players and writers.
Still see it as the start of the demise of our club but don't blame Scotty Parker. Professional football is a short career and you never know when or if such an opportunity would come again. And as for saying he had no career after leaving us please get real. Scott has had an outstanding career by anyone's standards and has been appreciated by the fans of all the clubs he has played for. You only had to hear the ovation he received at Craven cottage yesterday and that is at 36 years when his best days are behind him. Some people need to get over it.
More money in the bank, and the sort of house, most of us could only dream of. True.
But a successful career? Put it this way - he won't need too big a trophy room in his pad. In fact, did he ever win a medal anywhere?
And the handful of caps he won bear no resemblance to the form he showed when playing for us.
First Division with Charlton (18 League and Cup appearances that season) League Cup with Chelsea (11 League and Cup appearances that season yet missed the Final with injury)
In addition:
Represented England at every level from U16 to senior side
2003 Charlton Player Of The Year
2004 PL Runners Up Medal
2004 PFA Young Player Of The Year
2009 West Ham Player Of The Year
2010 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 Football Writers Player Of The Year
2012 Tottenham Player Of The Year
So, it rather depends how you define "winning something". Can't think of too many of our players in the last 50 years to beat that lot especially as these awards are voted, separately for, by the fans, players and writers.
Would imagine he'd swap the lot for an FA Cup or PL winners medal.
Still see it as the start of the demise of our club but don't blame Scotty Parker. Professional football is a short career and you never know when or if such an opportunity would come again. And as for saying he had no career after leaving us please get real. Scott has had an outstanding career by anyone's standards and has been appreciated by the fans of all the clubs he has played for. You only had to hear the ovation he received at Craven cottage yesterday and that is at 36 years when his best days are behind him. Some people need to get over it.
More money in the bank, and the sort of house, most of us could only dream of. True.
But a successful career? Put it this way - he won't need too big a trophy room in his pad. In fact, did he ever win a medal anywhere?
And the handful of caps he won bear no resemblance to the form he showed when playing for us.
First Division with Charlton (18 League and Cup appearances that season) League Cup with Chelsea (11 League and Cup appearances that season yet missed the Final with injury)
In addition:
Represented England at every level from U16 to senior side
2003 Charlton Player Of The Year
2004 PL Runners Up Medal
2004 PFA Young Player Of The Year
2009 West Ham Player Of The Year
2010 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 Football Writers Player Of The Year
2012 Tottenham Player Of The Year
So, it rather depends how you define "winning something". Can't think of too many of our players in the last 50 years to beat that lot especially as these awards are voted, separately for, by the fans, players and writers.
Would imagine he'd swap the lot for an FA Cup or PL winners medal.
That's where we differ. Those numerous awards are testament to his commitment on the pitch. Winston Bogarde, for example, has a Champions League Winners Medal but isn't fit to lace Scott Parker's boots. Now there really is a player who valued money more than commitment.
I was really pissed of at the circumstances surrounding his departure, however if he was one of my kids I would have encouraged him to join Chelsea. If I was a pro footballer and I was playing for little old Charlton and a big club like Chelski came knocking with a double wage offer, I'd be away quicker than Usain Bolt. If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
I get that Greenie. I am sure he felt he was doing what was best for him and his family. The immature manner of his demand to go rankled at the time, but I guess that is footballers for you. And yet I still carry a flaming grudge to this day. Chelsea didn't really want him did they? They didn't fucking want him or need him. They bought him because they could, They bought him because we had been in the top 4 for what, 6 weeks?, and we were shaping up as a serious threat to their champions league position. They bought for the same reason they bought SWP from City and Steve Sidwell from Reading and God know who else they didn't want or play. We had stuffed them boxing day and beat Spurs at the Lane a few days later. Even with our mythical end of season slump with finished 7th. With Parker at the heart of our side we had a right chance of glory. Him going ruined our perfect season and with it the only chance I'll ever have of seeing Charlton play in europe. Why couldn't he wait until the end of the season? His star was in the ascendancy. Okay, I get it that maybe it's me that's got the problem. But fuck him.
Still see it as the start of the demise of our club but don't blame Scotty Parker. Professional football is a short career and you never know when or if such an opportunity would come again. And as for saying he had no career after leaving us please get real. Scott has had an outstanding career by anyone's standards and has been appreciated by the fans of all the clubs he has played for. You only had to hear the ovation he received at Craven cottage yesterday and that is at 36 years when his best days are behind him. Some people need to get over it.
I don't appreciate you telling me I should "get over it" as if you are in some way superior because you claim to have.....what do you want me to do......go to bed tonight saying to myself SoundAs you really must get over this Scott Parker thing and miraculously in the morning I wake up to find I no longer care. People don't do that, cause life simply doesn't work that way......I can't get over it and never will....sorry if that offends you. Have you not thought that you should really get over people not getting over it! Works both ways does it not!
Can you blame him? Amount of crap he got for making the move and progressing his career away from Charlton. He was too good for Charlton and had every right to go to Chelsea to try and realise his potential.
Just like any individual in any trade, if someone comes sniffing offering a lot more money for your wares you would take it. Get over it.
Had a drink at Rochdale with a fan who's mate knows Parker, and he's told him he regrets leaving Charlton as he hardly got a sniff at Chelsea when he was in his prime, and Charlton were on an upward path. Bit late now, Scott.
I was going to write that if I met Parker I would certainly politely ask him if with hindsight he'd concede he might have been better staying until at least the summer. But your post basically shows that Parker himself has already belatedly worked out that out.
I might be a bit more grown up as regards the words in use to describe him but I can't forgive him. I would have been sad to see him go in the summer but could have understood and accepted that like I guess most of us would
The comparison between football and the real world is a ridiculous one frankly whilst I understand football is a finite career and for him personally and his family it was a no brainer. Completely understand that, but football is, for me at least, deeper than that black and white assertion and it is because of the emotional attachment men like Parker have the opportunity to earn what they do.
Whilst he isn't responsible for everything we have to resolve right now, his leaving how he did, when he did basically signalled the beginning of the end. Curbs realised he wouldn't break the glass ceiling, we'd finally had one of our own become the player we all wanted him to be, the whole team was set up around him he was irreplaceable. I'm definitely still bitter
Comments
He told us as much at a sponsors' dinner, so it comes from the man himself. Yes, he had money to spend, but in lots of ways, Parker was irreplaceable. He was personally quite deeply hurt by it at the time, though he soldiered on afterwards.
If we are honest and grown up we all would......no brainer.
But I remember I was 10/11 when he left. He was by far my favourite player, homegrown, played in the same position as me (midfield) and was brilliant. I was completely gutted when he left and I lost interest in football for a couple of years or so because of it, along with me being far better cricket player than footballer! It just makes me sad when I see him play, that he could've been a mainstay in an England midfield and winning champions league at Man Utd.
The 11 year old me cannot forgive him
Can I just say, I've seen Curbs in his underpants. Seriously. I did a season-long column with him at a magazine I was working on. Got to Sparrows Lane at the arranged time and he started undressing in front of me to change into his training kit. So I can tell you with absolute certainty, he wears briefs.
But if I am honest, I would rather not talk to him in the first place.
Bit late now, Scott.
I would have told my son that £20k A WEEK, is a huge amount of money, more than I am earning a year. I would have explained how staying at Charlton for just four more months would have made him a hero, something money can't buy ( unless you are a super-rich club owner who decided to spend his cash on the club, rather than duck tape ), that if things carried on as they were, he would be able to boast how he had taken Charlton into Europe for the first time.
I would have pointed out that he was already being picked regularly for the England squad, and that he was almost certainly going to be fourth or fifth choice behind the current Chelsea midfield, which may well jeapordise his chances of going to Portugal in the summer.
Finally I would have said that yes, he can double his earnings now. But a successful Euros, and a top six finish with Charlton would add to both his value and the choices of clubs available in the summer.
We now know that didn't exactly happen in retrospect, but your argument can work both ways and money can be left out of it still.
You could also remind him that it's a short career and that this opportunity might not come around again if he gets injured or if Chelsea go and buy someone else instead.
If you advised your son to stay when Chelsea come calling, then that would be foolish advice - its 10 year career in the top flight, if you are lucky, and a career ending busted leg or another bad injury can be just round the corner and then what? Nothing, thats what, a big pile of fuck all.
Also the top 6 was not guaranteed, or Euro footy, being a hero at Charlton, so what, being a hero at Chelsea is bigger, playing for a team where he actually has a good chance to win some trophies had to be the correct choice. Going to Chelsea in no way had a negative impact on his England career, not when the likes of Gerrard and Lampard are way ahead of him, as much as Parker was a dick for the way he behaved his career has been good, he has played for some very big teams, bigger than us, he is financially secure for life, I dont suppose he loses any sleep.
That is the reality, anyone who thinks otherwise is living in fairytale land!
But a successful career? Put it this way - he won't need too big a trophy room in his pad. In fact, did he ever win a medal anywhere?
And the handful of caps he won bear no resemblance to the form he showed when playing for us.
League Cup with Chelsea (11 League and Cup appearances that season yet missed the Final with injury)
Represented England at every level from U16 to senior side
2003 Charlton Player Of The Year
2004 PL Runners Up Medal
2004 PFA Young Player Of The Year
2009 West Ham Player Of The Year
2010 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 West Ham Player Of The Year
2011 Football Writers Player Of The Year
2012 Tottenham Player Of The Year
So, it rather depends how you define "winning something". Can't think of too many of our players in the last 50 years to beat that lot especially as these awards are voted, separately for, by the fans, players and writers.
I am sure he felt he was doing what was best for him and his family.
The immature manner of his demand to go rankled at the time, but I guess that is footballers for you.
And yet I still carry a flaming grudge to this day.
Chelsea didn't really want him did they? They didn't fucking want him or need him.
They bought him because they could,
They bought him because we had been in the top 4 for what, 6 weeks?, and we were shaping up as a serious threat to their champions league position.
They bought for the same reason they bought SWP from City and Steve Sidwell from Reading and God know who else they didn't want or play.
We had stuffed them boxing day and beat Spurs at the Lane a few days later.
Even with our mythical end of season slump with finished 7th.
With Parker at the heart of our side we had a right chance of glory.
Him going ruined our perfect season and with it the only chance I'll ever have of seeing Charlton play in europe.
Why couldn't he wait until the end of the season? His star was in the ascendancy.
Okay, I get it that maybe it's me that's got the problem.
But fuck him.
Have you not thought that you should really get over people not getting over it!
Works both ways does it not!
Case closed :-)
The comparison between football and the real world is a ridiculous one frankly whilst I understand football is a finite career and for him personally and his family it was a no brainer. Completely understand that, but football is, for me at least, deeper than that black and white assertion and it is because of the emotional attachment men like Parker have the opportunity to earn what they do.
Whilst he isn't responsible for everything we have to resolve right now, his leaving how he did, when he did basically signalled the beginning of the end. Curbs realised he wouldn't break the glass ceiling, we'd finally had one of our own become the player we all wanted him to be, the whole team was set up around him he was irreplaceable. I'm definitely still bitter