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Peter Varney on Scott Parker's transfer to Chelsea

One of the many good reasons to subscribe to Rich Cawley's Substack is "The Peter Varney Diaries". In this edition he gives some insights into the 1999 "Floodlight Gang" which saw us nail an Asian match fixing gang - and as Peter relates, the FA trying to take credit for it😡.  But the main story is Parker to Chelsea. Peter is very good at revealing some juicy details but leaving it up the reader to draw their own conclusions. So we learn that Parker (and his agent) was insistent that when he had signed a new contract, Richard Murray had "promised" him that if a big club came in for him, he would let him know. But Peter as CEO had no knowledge of this and RM had buggered off to "Bermuda or the Bahamas" to visit his sister, just as the window had opened. That wasn't clever of RM if  so; but I'm sure that he was not the only owner at the time to do things like that. Nowadays we are all used to young talented players with "trigger clauses" making such promises part of the contract, and often naming a minimum price a club has to offer, to trigger talks. 

But as someone who already hates Abramovic with every fibre of my body, I was triggered by this revelation: "... they told Scott: ‘If you don’t sign in this window, we won’t be signing you’." WTF? I'm certainly one of those who believed that Abramovic made this move (after the Boxing Day tonking which Parker orchestrated) primarily to "take Charlton out" much like a Moscow gangster would take out a rival with a car-bomb. Otherwise why say such a thing? And of course in the event Parker hardly featured when he did make the move. Probably Claudio Ranieri never quite knew why Scott had arrived there. His career didn't exactly stall but it lost a lot of momentum, whereas if he had stayed until May, having helped us into Europe (as PV discusses) he would have had plenty of better options than that circus.

Great insights. I can't recommend too highly what Rich Cawley is delivering with his new venture, there is plenty of audio (with Louis Mendez) as well as regular news articles. Since he's not even a fan, I'd say we're lucky he's chosen to pick us, rather than the Spanners, for his venture (although I suppose he dreams of expansion at some point...)

Comments

  • edited August 26
    MrOneLung said:
    Parker would have had his pick of clubs that summer. He didn’t need Chelsea. 
    He would have been so good in that Arsenal midfield 
    Or Utd as Keane’s successor. If anything, the Chelsea move cost him a squad place for Euro 2004.
  • Man Utd was the better fit. 

    They had the likes of Djemba-Djemba playing that Parker would've been ahead of. 
  • He surely must regret making the decision to join Chelsea. Yes, he made a fortune but it’s tragic that someone with the ability he had never won a trophy. He’d have been an England regular if he’d made the right move as well. Also feels like it was the point our downfall started. 
  • I doubt he regrets it. Went on to captain England. 
  • He surely must regret making the decision to join Chelsea. Yes, he made a fortune but it’s tragic that someone with the ability he had never won a trophy. He’d have been an England regular if he’d made the right move as well. Also feels like it was the point our downfall started. 
    Probably feels learning from the likes of Mourinho, Makelele etc. led him to be able to refine his midfield positioning and led to his performances at Newcastle, West Ham and Tottenham. 
  • MrOneLung said:
    Parker would have had his pick of clubs that summer. He didn’t need Chelsea. 
    He would have been so good in that Arsenal midfield 
    Could of replaced Keane at the end of the season at Utd, with him leaving.
    Yep Arsenal or Utd would have been a better fit for him. If he had stayed with us through to the summer he would have continued getting media attention and the rave reviews, helped us into Europe and probably secured a place in the England squad for the euros that year. I reckon it took him a while to get his career fully back on the rails and probably West Ham got the best out of him. 
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  • I doubt he regrets it. Went on to captain England. 
    And manage Burnley  🙄.

    Will still be Mr Moneybags. 

    Him, Taylor & Defoe can all do one as far as I'm concerned.
  • I seem to remember there being a rumour that Wenger thought he was too small and didn't rate him.
  • I seem to remember there being a rumour that Wenger thought he was too small and didn't rate him.
    They signed Flamini that summer who is an inch taller, so not sure that would be true. Fabregas too obviously. 
  • I doubt he regrets it. Went on to captain England. 
    Not really?
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