What Scott Parker's spells at Fulham and Bournemouth tell us about what Burnley can expect

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It’s looking increasingly likely that Scott Parker will become the next Burnley manager.
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Burnley identify Brazilian as solution to left-back problem following Charlie Ta...

If he is to get the job, the former England international will be tasked with returning Burnley back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

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Winning promotion from the Championship is something he has prior experience of, having achieved that feat with both Fulham and Bournemouth before a brief spell in Belgium with Club Brugge.

But what can we learn from those two spells at Fulham and Bournemouth that will give us some indication of what we can expect from Parker’s tenure at Turf Moor?

The Burnley Express spoke to two reporters to get the lowdown on Parker’s background.

First up, we spoke to Jack Kelly, an accredited journalist that covers Fulham home and away.

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BRISTOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 07: Scott Parker, Manager of Fulham acknowledges the fans following their draw in the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Fulham FC at Ashton Gate on March 07, 2020 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)BRISTOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 07: Scott Parker, Manager of Fulham acknowledges the fans following their draw in the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Fulham FC at Ashton Gate on March 07, 2020 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)
BRISTOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 07: Scott Parker, Manager of Fulham acknowledges the fans following their draw in the Sky Bet Championship match between Bristol City and Fulham FC at Ashton Gate on March 07, 2020 in Bristol, England. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Parker got his first break into management with the Cottagers in 2019. He led the London outfit to promotion via the play-offs in his first season but was unable to keep them in the top flight the following year.

But how did his spell at Craven Cottage play out? Here’s what Kelly told us:

How do you reflect on Parker’s Fulham tenure?

What an interesting question – Parker’s tenure at Fulham ended on a sour note, with him jumping ship to Bournemouth following a turgid season in the Premier League.

He took over after a failed period under Claudio Raneiri and after relegation was confirmed on a miserable night at Vicarage Road, he strung together a couple of morale boosting wins and showed enough promise to give fans belief going into the Championship. He was given the job full time and got us up at the first time of asking, but Fulham largely underperformed throughout the season, but thwarted a dangerous Brentford side at Wembley in what was seen as a tactical masterclass from Parker.

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However, the following season was dismal, not helped by some late business, which Parker voiced his opinions on a fair bit. But he dropped star striker Mitrovic and opted for a winger in Ivan Cavaleiro up front.

With no fans in the stands, the growing discontent was only voiced on social media. A few moments of promise, but overall a torrid campaign with only nine home goals scored all season.

He said all the right things, but with the calibre of players Fulham had; Joachim Andersen, Ruben Lofus-Cheek, Zambo Anguissa, Alphonse Areola, Ademola Lookman etc, that Fulham team should have done better. It ended on a sour note and fans made their feelings known when Fulham faced Bournemouth the following season.

How would you describe his style of play? And what was his preferred formation?

Parker during his time at Fulham played a 4-2-3-1 system in the Championship, which worked with the talent Fulham had. In the Premier League he was much more defensively minded.

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Given Burnley are now in the second tier and will have their eyes on an immediate return, I would imagine he will revert to the former. Albeit 4-2-3-1 has good balance across the pitch, the style of play is slow. Watch Southgate’s England right now and it’s not far off Parker’s style. Slow, frustrating and lots of passing with little end product.

Reliant on Mitrovic, Fulham had tricky wingers around him, but sometimes it would be one step forward and two steps back. Parker liked to dominate the ball, however in the Premier League it was very much soak up pressure and play on the break, which didn’t really work very well.

He started tinkering with playing five at the back which gave Fulham more stability at the back, but almost nothing going forward, albeit this was against Premier League opposition.

Did he have a good relationship with supporters? How was he with the media and in press conferences?

I think Parker is good with words, says all the right things but eventually those words would just not satisfy the fans as results and performances weren’t up to scratch. He loves to mention ‘the outside noise’ and how he’s aware of it but will pay no attention to it.

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It’s hard to judge the relationship with the fans, as the successful moments came in the midst of lockdown and the PL season was entirely behind closed doors. It’s safe to say his relationship with Fulham fans now is as low as it can get.

But like I said, in press conferences, he would say things that would make you believe in the vision and the project, but the results on the pitch would not back up his words.

How hands-on was he with recruitment?

Parker’s relationship with the Khans was fairly good from what I can recall. Parker signed his brother in law Harry Arter and let go one of our brightest academy prospects Matt O’Riley, a decision that looks incredibly silly now.

He didn’t hide his frustration with the board when Fulham were still short four games into the PL season. Parker has good contacts from his time as a coach at Spurs. Parker liked to have a say in the type of player he wanted.

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Can you see him being a success at Burnley?

It’s tricky to say, Kompany’s style of play is a little different to Parker. Bournemouth fans’ frustrations ended up being remarkably similar to Fulham fans’.

If the squad looks strong at the start of the season, I’d imagine Burnley will be up there and Parker’s two promotions from the Championship is always a positive. My worry is he’s out of his depth in the top tier, with his last game he managed ending Liverpool 9-0 Bournemouth.

Maybe he’s learned a thing or two from his time at Club Brugge and his time away from management. But winning the Championship with Kompany to back in the Championship with Parker in the space of 15 months, Burnley fans may find it hard to adjust. With expectations high, it could be a frustrating campaign!

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Parker left Fulham straight after relegation from the Premier League and instantly made the move to Bournemouth.

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There the expectation was very similar to Burnely’s current situation; win promotion back to the top flight at all costs.

He achieved it, too, finishing second on 88 points, two adrift of the title winners – his former side Fulham.

But Parker’s return to the top flight lasted just four games, so what exactly happened?

We spoke to Tom Crocker, Cherries reporter for the Bournemouth Echo, to get the lowdown. Here’s what he said:

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How do you look back at Parker’s Bournemouth tenure?

Job done, essentially. Parker was hired in the summer of 2021 on the back of the Cherries losing in the Championship play-offs the previous season. Financially, it was important they achieved promotion that season under Parker, or the future of the club could have gone quite differently.

He had an amazing start, unbeaten in the first 15 Championship games, all the more impressive given the club had lost some key players over the summer and Parker was forced into using some of the club’s inexperienced academy talents.

A mid-season wobble then followed, when doubts set in among the crowd. Promotion looked to be slipping away (after an embarrassing FA Cup loss to non-league Boreham Wood) and fans were growing frustrated, but the Cherries got over the line thanks to a string of late goals in the final weeks of the season.

Parker then very much shot himself in the foot at the start of the following season, openly criticising the club’s lack of recruitment, which eventually got him the sack after the 9-0 loss at Anfield.

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How would you describe his style of play? And what was his preferred formation?

The style of play is the main thing which eventually frustrated both Fulham and Cherries fans. It is strange that Parker got promoted with two clubs, yet he is not remembered particularly fondly by either fanbase.

They’d tend to have a lot of the ball, sometimes struggle to create too much with it and would be accused of being too passive, letting comfortable games become nervy.

Despite scoring 30 goals that season, Dominic Solanke missed out on the club’s player of the season award to goalkeeper Mark Travers, which says a lot.

He generally set up the team in a 4-3-3, occasionally flipping to a back three.

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Did he have a good relationship with supporters? How was he with the media and in press conferences?

Initially, yes. But that soured as the season went on. There was obviously plenty of goodwill and optimism when promotion was secured, but many fans were ready to move on from Parker given his comments the following season, claiming the players he had at his disposal weren’t good enough.

Gary O’Neil went on to prove that was not the case, keeping the team up fairly comfortably in the end, albeit with some investment following the ownership change in December 2022.

In terms of the media, Parker tended to wheel out a few stock phrases most weeks, but was generally good to deal with and, particularly during the positive periods of the season, delivered some amusing moments along the way in press conferences.

How hands on was he with transfers?

With the former owner looking to sell the club, there was not a large amount of cash being splashed during Parker’s time in charge.

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The club were clever in the transfer market though, going crazy on winter deadline day 2022 to get some players in to get over the line in the Championship.

The Cherries have used a model in recent years whereby the head coach does not drive the transfers, that has been down to Richard Hughes.

Parker’s contacts as a former England international and reputation of having achieved promotion previously undoubtedly helped though, particularly with the signing of Gary Cahill.

Can you see him being a success with Burnley?

It depends on what constitutes success. It would be no surprise to me at all to see him achieve a third promotion at Burnley. It’s what happens after that which remains the big unknown.

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He needs to break the cycle of alienating himself when the going gets tough in the Premier League. At some point, you’d think he may well find the right club to do that and get everyone aligned with what he wants, as he clearly does have something about him to get promoted twice before.

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