Up Close with Paul Parker,Ex- Man Utd and England player!

Manchester United grabs a vital win against Bolton last Saturday courtesy of Berbatov’s goal. That match was good enough to seal my week but the fun did not stop there, the next day- Sunday, was the best Sunday I ever had thus far.

On that day, I got the chance to meet with one of Man Utd former player- Paul Parker. My first ever meeting with a Man Utd player at close distance ;p Well, guess a lot don’t know who is Paul Parker. The same goes to me! When the administrator for Official Malaysia Manchester United Fan Club told me Paul Parker is coming next week, first thing that comes to my mind, ‘Who is this guy”?

So, I searched for him. His name doesn’t sound familiar because he’s not from my era. Brief intro on Paul Parker- he joined Man Utd from QPR for £1.7 million at 1992. He picked up League Cup Winner's Medal as his first medal in Man.Utd shirt following a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the final. 

For season 91/92 English Premier League, United looked favourites for the title with four games remaining, however, injury again cost them of the services of Paul and the side lost three consecutive games to hand the title to Leeds United. He returned to league action in October 1992 and soon re-established himself. Having come so close the previous season, United didn't make the same mistakes again and romped to their first Championship for 26 years.

Paul scored his first goal for the club with the final effort in a 4-1 win against Spurs on 9th January 1993. He made his final appearance in a 3-0 win against Reading in the FA Cup on 27th January 1996, scoring his second goal for the club as a parting gift. He left on a free transfer in the summer of 1996.

During Parker's five-year career at Old Trafford, he won won a League Cup winners medal in 1992, a Premiership title medal a year later, and another Premiership title medal and the FA Cup a further year on. Gary Neville’s emergence saw Parker losing the right back spot for both club and country.

Paul Parker’s transfer of £1.7 million during 1991 is a lot of money! For comparison, Manchester United legend, Eric Cantona left Leeds for Manchester United for £1.2 million on 26 November 1992. Noticed that? Parker cost more than Cantona!

Parker arrived at Club house at around 1.30pm, greeted by the crowds who waited for him since morning. Parker is at my height, 172cm 180cm. Lol. So now we know height is definitely not a constraint for Asian players to be successful in BPL.

Fan club’s chief, Lawrence How, brought parker for a tour around the house. This tour is A MUST for all Devils fan! That’s my first time touring the club house as well. All the collections in the club are amazing! Parker pointed at a sketch of Man.Utd players’ lineup for 1992 League Cup Final as his first taste of success with Man.Utd.

From Parker’s look, you can see he was impressed with the wide range of memorabilia in the club! I am as well. Do you know the club set aside a room for Eric Cantona memorabilia. A room only for the “The King”.

After the tour, we had an autograph and photograph session with Paul Parker. Everyone can be seen lining up to get his autograph. Some brought along their nostalgic Man Utd jersey for his signature. Some get his autograph on a photo of himself. I’m not a person that fancies autograph, so I didn’t bring anything for his signature. Photographs mean a lot more than autograph from my opinion.

Then, we had a group photo session with Paul Parker @ England first choice right back for most of the early nineties! In conclusion, nothing can beat that experience thus far for me. Well..meeting Eric Cantona and the rest of the Red Devils can beat this! :)

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