Former Bournemouth manager Scott Parker lands first foreign job in career as he was appointed as Club Brugge's new head coach..

2023-01-01 17:26

Former Bournemouth manager Scott Parker lands first foreign job in career as he was appointed as Club Brugge




Club Brugge announced on their official website on Saturday that the club has appointed Bournemouth's former English manager Scott Parker as the club's new head coach.


Club Brugge did not mention in the official statement the contract length which was signed by Parker. It only stated that the club will hold a grand press conference for him next week, and this will also be the first time that Parker, who has never stepped out of England, accepted an overseas challenge, furthermore it was also the first time that he will be in a new coaching job after 4 months.


Parker's side will face Portuguese Primeira Liga leaders Benfica next month (February), during which he will have his coaching debut in the Champions League round of 16 knockout rounds.


The 41-year-old Parker is a former England international midfielder when he was a player. He has played for Charlton Athletic, Norwich City, Chelsea, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham in his playing career.


After retiring, Parker was appointed as the coach of the Tottenham U18s youth academy in 2017 and has since started his coaching career. In the summer of the following year, Parker was invited to join the Fulham first-team assistant coaching team, and took over the Fulham head coach position at the end of February 2019 after Italian head coach Claudio Ranieri was sacked, but he failed to help the Cottagers survive from relegation.


Despite this, Parker was retained by the Fulham hierarchy, and he immediately led the club back to the Premier League in 2020 as the winner of the EFL Championship play-offs. In the summer of the same year, Parker was in charge at the club in the Premier League for the second time. Even after the club had given him hundreds of millions of pounds to make signings in two years, he still felt that he was not given enough. In the end, the club was relegated again and he was ultimately sacked after completely angering the club's hierarchy.


On the same day after being sacked, Parker was appointed as the new head coach of Bournemouth. As the Cherries' first-team squad at the time was basically almost identical as the one that had played in the Premier League left over by two former head coaches Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall before they resigned in succession in 2019, as well as the latter who succeeded the two, Middlesbrough and Real Madrid's former legendary England international center back Jonathan Woodgate also returned to the club, Under the premise of having a consolidated first-team squad as foundation, Parker easily led the club to automatic promotion and a return to the Premier League as the runner-up in the EFL Championship last season.


In the first four matchdays of this season, Parker kept complaining in front of the media that the club did not gave him enough funds to make signings. However, coupled by the fact that the players he wished for as new signings were unrealistic, and that he was unwilling to admit his fault, many one quickly found that his position at the club would be precarious.


It wasn't until Matchday 4 when they played Liverpool as a visitor at Anfield that they were humiliated 9-0 by their opponents who made an extremely sluggish start, that the Bournemouth hierarchy sacked Parker a few days later after they had enough of him.


After Club Brugge drew with OH Leuven on Boxing Day a few days ago, and had undergone a three-game winless streak, they officially announced that the 44-year-old former head coach, former Belgium international legendary defender Carl Hoefkens was sacked.


So far, the Blauw-Zwart have achieved 10 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses this season, temporarily placing third in the Jupiler Pro League table with 34 points.