Scott Parker learnt from Jose Mourinho, Harry Redknapp and Alan Curbishley, cut his teeth coaching at Tottenham, is winning fans at Fulham and could be a future England boss

His post-match interviews have been remixed to The Streets, and his sartorial choices have raised some eyebrows.

But it’s his management of Fulham that has earned Scott Parker plenty of fans this season.

His team have turned things around over the last few months and have a very realistic chance of keeping their place in the Premier League.

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It’s undeniably going to be tough for Parker and his side as they’re still in the drop zone, but they’re getting better and better as the season goes on.

The Cottagers lost their first four games, conceding 11 times, but have picked up 11 points in their last six, including a 1-0 win at Liverpool.

They now face top-of-the-table Manchester City on Saturday at 8pm - live on talkSPORT.

It’s no fluke that Parker has been the driving force behind Fulham’s success in recent weeks.

He’s been at the helm at Craven Cottage since 2019 and led them straight back to the Premier League, via the play-offs, last season.

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At just 40, there is a lot of potential still to be realised and he appears to be drawing on all that knowledge he soaked up during his playing days at Charlton, Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham, West Ham and Fulham.

He was managed by Alan Curbishley, Jose Mourinho, Graeme Souness, Gianfranco Zola, Harry Redknapp, Andre Villas Boas, Rene Meulensteen and Felix Magath, among others.

Quite the varied list of names with completely different styles.

Curbishley was the survival specialist who worked wonders on a limited budget, Redknapp was brilliant at man-management, Souness was no-nonsense, while Mourinho was, of course, the special one.

It's been the perfect grounding for Parker, who always seem destined to be a manager.

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He was a leader both on and off the pitch. His speeches in the dressing room are the stuff of legend.

Parker inspired West Ham to come back from 3-0 down against West Brom back in 2011 thanks to a tear-jerking half-time rally.

Carlton Cole said after the game ‘it was inspirational. If you were there, you’d have a tear in your eye.’

But he’s been like that his whole career. Matt Holland played with Parker at Charlton when he was in his early 20s and revealed he was not afraid to speak up.

“I heard the stories from later on in his career but he was like that in his younger days as well,” he told marvelbet369.com.

"He wasn’t afraid of speaking out and getting his message across to the team in the dressing room.

“It was nothing that fazed him, if the manager asked an opinion in the dressing room he’d be one of the first ones to stand up and say his piece. That was impressive for someone of his age.

Holland, the former Republic of Ireland midfielder, continued: “He trained like every training session was a cup final. I’ve never trained with anybody like that. 

“I’ve seen hard work in training and people who are at the front of the running and put everything into their training sessions, but he tackled people like it was a cup final.”

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Management always seemed to be in his plans and he stood out as something special when he was working towards his badges.

“A few years ago, when I finishing off my Pro Licence, one of the coach educators within the FA at the time was Roy Hodgson and he particularly mentioned Scott Parker as being an outstanding student within the Pro License cohort at the time,” Gary Neville recalled to .

"It always stuck in my mind and this person doesn't get coaches wrong, he's someone who has been teaching coaches for a long time. He's seen it all and coached a lot of the coaches we see in the Premier League.”

Parker’s first coaching role came at his former club Tottenham, where he managed the under-18s shortly after retiring in 2017.

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He even managed to beat rivals Arsenal 9-0 before being named as a first-team coach at Fulham.

From there he was appointed as manager when Claudio Ranieri was sacked.

It’s not been without a few bumps in the road. He couldn’t keep the West London club in the top flight but there were glimpses of things to come and they bounced straight back in 2019/20.

Parker won the Championship play-off final - and that’s where his emotional interview about life as a manager went viral when it was put to Dry Your Eyes by The Streets.

The former midfielder has not been afraid of making changes and fixing his team’s weaknesses.

He’s been very active in the loan market and they’ve actually made up the backbone of his squad this season.

Alphonse Areola (PSG), Joachim Andersen (Lyon), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), Mario Lemina (Southampton), Ademola Lookman (RB Leipzig) and Josh Maja (Bordeaux) are all currently on loan at Craven Cottage.

Andre-Frank Anguissa, meanwhile, has been given another chance at the club following his loan spell to Villarreal.

Parker is getting the best out of his players, some of whom needed that second chance.

So, how far can he go? talkSPORT’s Jamie O’Hara thinks he could one day be a future England manager.

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Former teammate Holland admitted that you couldn’t rule anything out because of the expectations he sets himself.

“I wouldn’t rule that out. I know first hand how ambitious he is. He’s got a belief in his own ability and will have ambitions to take his managerial career as far as he can,” Holland added.

“If you ask him if he got every ounce out of his playing career, I’m sure he’d say yes. I don’t think he’ll leave a stone unturned in achieving great things as a manager as well.

“The sky is the limit for him. He’s someone who can recognise a problem and deal with it, yes he’s emotional but he can step aside from that and analyse it clearly.

“He’s got a belief in his team and I wouldn’t rule anything out for him.

“There’s no guarantee Fulham will stay up this season. They’ve got some really difficult games. They’ve got one of the tougher run-ins.

“They’ve won at Anfield and that sort of result gives you confidence.

“If he did go down, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were clubs next season willing to take Scott.”

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