Paul Parker On Man United, QPR’s Plastic Pitch, Italia 90, And The Best-Ever Premier League Full-Back | OneFootball

You’ve just released your book, Tackling the Game: My Life in Football, and it’s quite the career you’ve had, from club level to the international stage. Let’s start with Fulham, where it all began. What was it like coming through there and breaking into the first team?

“Breaking through at Fulham was what really made me. In any career, there’s that period that shapes you, and for me, that was it. I did a proper apprenticeship: cleaning boots, terraces and toilets, and taking a bit of stick from the senior pros whenever I got cheeky.

“People might call it bullying now, but I saw it as growing up. It taught me respect — for the older players, for the staff, for the game. Fulham was where I learned about life. I joined when I was 11 and stayed until I was 23.

“I made my debut at 17, but even when I was in the first-team squad, travelling to games, I still had to do my apprentice jobs. I’d clean the boots after matches, pick up the kit and help the other lads. That went on until I signed my first professional contract.

“Fulham was my club. I grew up there and honestly thought I’d never play anywhere else.”

“It hit me straight away that I’d arrived at a proper football club. Fulham was my starting base, but QPR was another level. I’d jumped two divisions, from the Third Division to the First.

“My second-to-last season at Fulham ended in relegation, so moving to Loftus Road was a massive change. The club felt more professional, even though the ground wasn’t huge. There was a real buzz about it, and suddenly I was playing against top players at the biggest clubs.

“A year earlier, I’d been in the Third Division, and now I was up against the best in the country. It all happened very quickly.”

Your time at QPR coincided with the club’s final season on that famous plastic pitch. Did that have any impact on your game?

“It definitely did. In my first season, we still had the plastic pitch, the last one before it was ripped up. Peter Shreeves told me he never expected me to lose a foot race because when the ball bounced in behind me, nobody could catch it. It was basically concrete with a thin layer of plastic on top.

“It helped me adapt to the top flight, but it took its toll. My hips, knees and elbows still show the scars. I’d come home from games with big burns from slide tackles. I’d patch them up, but a few hours later, they’d start leaking and stick to my trousers. I ruined loads of jeans. Sometimes I had to sleep sitting up because I couldn’t lie down without the sheets sticking to the wounds.

“It wasn’t great for my appearance, but it toughened me up.”

That transition clearly worked out, because within a couple of seasons Bobby Robson called you into the England squad, leading to Italia ’90. How do you reflect on your England career, and particularly breaking in under Sir Bobby?

“It was tough at first because Sir Bobby was such a loyal man. After Euro ’88, people were calling for changes, but he stuck with the players who had taken him that far.

“It took months just to make the bench and even longer to get an appearance. I only had about 15 minutes of competitive experience before the World Cup. I went to Italy expecting to be exactly what my squad number said: number 12, sitting on the bench.

“But it worked out brilliantly once I was able to break into the team. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. That tournament really put me on the map. People knew my name after it, even if they didn’t know my face.”

You struck up a great partnership on the right with Chris Waddle for England. What was it about the two of you that clicked so well?

“Chris was brilliant to play with, a great communicator and a lovely man. People forget that before the World Cup, I hadn’t played as a wing-back in years. QPR had signed me to play in a back three as a sweeper or man-marker, so I was learning on the job in Italy.

“Because I was naturally defensive, it suited me, and Chris made my job easier. When he went to Marseille, he became a different player. His confidence and awareness went to another level. He was playing with top players like Abedi Pelé, and he brought that experience back with him.

“Playing behind someone like Chris, who you respected and trusted, made a massive difference. Honestly, if anyone else had been in front of me, my tournament might have turned out very differently.”

“I really want to say yes, and part of me believes it, but it would’ve been incredibly difficult without Paul Gascoigne.

“Gazza made such a difference, not just to how we played but to how other teams played against us. He was unpredictable in the best way. One day he loved cheese, the next he couldn’t stand it. That was Gazza.

“That’s why 1990 still means so much. It captured the nation at a time when so much was going on in the country, politically and socially, even with how fans were treated abroad. It became more than football.

“I’m doing some theatre events now with a few of the lads from that team. One of them’s already sold out with 1,200 people. It’s amazing that, 35 years later, people still want to hear about it.

“England have had a World Cup semi-final and a Euros final since, but people still talk about Italia ’90 more than anything else.”

“To be honest, I was talking to Arsenal first, but they wanted an answer straight away, and I didn’t fancy leaving QPR for the same money without a guaranteed place. At that time, QPR were one of the best sides in London.

“I knew Sheffield Wednesday and Everton were interested too, though I had a few letters from Everton fans telling me why they didn’t want me! Then I was chatting with Terry Venables at Tottenham, and it looked like that might happen.

“Suddenly, I got a call from Maurice Watkins, Manchester United’s solicitor, saying they wanted me in Manchester that day. My agent and I went up, and even though I’d played at Old Trafford before, I’d never seen anything like it. The forecourt was full of cars for stadium tours. They even had a museum. That’s when I realised how big United really was.

“Sir Alex took me round the ground, pointing out where people sat and how many were in the Stretford End. He knew everything. He sold the club perfectly.

“If he’d offered me a car there and then, I’d probably have said yes.

“It was an incredible hour. By the time I went upstairs, he already knew I was signing. I stayed up north for three months before even coming back to London. I bought a new wardrobe and just embraced life there.

“I’m an Essex boy, born in London, but I loved it in Manchester and still do. Whenever I go back, I get nostalgic. If I wasn’t living in Essex, I’d live somewhere up north, without a doubt.”

You won the League Cup in your first season with the club, beating Nottingham Forest in the final. Then the Premier League launched in 1992. At that stage, Manchester United hadn’t won a league title for decades. From the moment the Premiership, as it was known then, kicked off, United began to dominate. How do you look back at that era you were involved in?

“Yeah, it did. I don’t know if it went against us, but the most difficult thing was that we really messed up in my first season when we should have won the last old Football League title.

“But then again, if we had done that, would we have gone on to win the first-ever Premier League title? Maybe not. It was so important for the club to finally win the league, their first in 25 years.

“If we’d won that last Football League, I don’t know how the club would have sold it, but knowing how United marketed themselves even back then, they would have done something incredible with it.

“The disappointment from missing out also hit some people hard, like Norman Whiteside, who had his testimonial match after the end of the 1991 season. With respect to Norman, if we’d won that title, the crowd would have been double what it was for him, which he would have more than deserved.

“You look back and realise you do need experience to win a league. When things get tough, you need players who know how to get through it. We didn’t really have that at the time. I suppose the most experienced one was Choccy, Brian McClair, from his Celtic days.

“He was probably the only one who’d actually won a top-level title. I’m trying to think if anyone else had.

“Brucey, Steve Bruce, hadn’t. I’d played against him when he was at Gillingham and I was at Fulham. There wasn’t really anyone else who’d experienced that before.

“So, when it got to around Easter, we struggled. We couldn’t get out of a rut. We’d become a bit one-dimensional.

“Then the following season, the boss made that signing in November, Eric Cantona. Sir Alex said at the time, and you’ll find this in a few of his quotes, that “Eric adds another dimension to our game.”

“You could see it straight away. When you look at the goals we scored that season and in the ones that followed, and compare them to the year before, it’s like night and day. We expanded as a team and played with more imagination and variety.

“Eric improved the side, and as a player alongside him, you had to improve too. Because if Eric wanted to do something and you didn’t react, he’d give you a look, and trust me, you’d be terrified!

“Playing with someone like him raised everyone’s standards. He expected more from you as a player.”

When you look at that defence – yourself, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin, and Peter Schmeichel behind you – it became one of the best in the country. How tight-knit were you as a unit on the training ground?

“Do you know what? I’d probably been more over-coached earlier in my career at Fulham and QPR.

“Sir Alex was different. He signed you for a reason, because you could think for yourself and handle situations on your own.

“Yes, there was organisation, but it was mostly down to you as a person. If you couldn’t take responsibility, you’d get found out by your teammates and by the manager.

“It’s different today. Players are told exactly what to do. They play to a system rather than think for themselves. Back then, if you couldn’t think for yourself, you wouldn’t play.

“Our back four worked because we could all deal with things one-on-one. We helped each other, sure, but when it came to physicality and problem-solving, we could all handle it.

“I was a wholehearted defender. Nothing fancy. I’d get forward when I could, but anything I did in the attacking third was a bonus.

Brucey was a real weapon at corners and had great feet. People rave about ball-playing centre-halves today, but Brucey and Pally, Gary Pallister, had incredible passing ability. They could hit a ball any distance.

“And then there’s Denis Irwin, for me still the best full-back ever to play in the Premier League.

“He doesn’t get mentioned enough because he’s not on social media, but everyone who played with him knows. Ashley Cole was a great left-back, but Denis beats him because he could do exactly the same job on either side.

“He was outstanding both defensively and attacking-wise. No one can lace Denis’ boots.”

Looking at your time at United overall – the league titles, that League Cup win against Forest, and the FA Cup final against Chelsea, which you won so emphatically – was that the stuff of dreams for you? Especially when you think about being a kid growing up, playing for England, and then winning trophies in that fashion?

“Oh, absolutely. Everything I wanted as a kid was to play for the biggest club I could.

“I always said, aim as high as you can. If you fail, you can always go down, but start at the top if you can.

“The FA Cup final was the dream. That was what I wanted when I was a kid, playing in the garden. Back then, the FA Cup was the glamour game. It was the last match of the season, the one everyone talked about.

“It was only when I got into professional football that I realised the real prize is the league, the marathon. That’s what you’re judged on.

“You don’t have to be a great team to win the FA Cup, but you have to be a great team to win a league title.

“The sides I played in under Sir Alex, and the ones after me, were great champions because of the football they played: expansive, fearless, always attacking.

“We were never told to sit back. We played positively.

“Then, there was Peter Schmeichel, our dictator, as the physio Jim McGregor used to call him. Peter was relentless. The moment he caught the ball, he demanded movement. He wanted to see his full-backs and wide players running.

“If there was space, you went, and he’d ping the ball straight to you. That’s how we played: fast, expressive, always forward-thinking.

“We never did pattern-of-play drills. It was about expressing yourself, always positively, never negatively.

“Sir Alex used to say, ‘If you play for Manchester United, you have to entertain.’ No other manager would say that. Most would worry about losing.

“We once beat Coventry 5–0 at Highfield Road, and he went ballistic afterwards. He said we hadn’t performed in a way that befitted Manchester United. We were stunned; we’d just won 5–0.

“The bus ride home was silent. Even the card school didn’t play. But on Monday morning, he’d moved on. He never bore grudges.

“That was the thing about him. If he could find eleven players he trusted more, he’d get them, but once something was dealt with, it was done. He never held grudges.”

“It actually came about by accident. I wasn’t chasing to do a book. Someone mentioned it to me, and I spoke to Wayne Barton, who I do a regular Manchester United podcast with every Monday.

“Wayne’s written loads of United books. His new one, Manchester United After Munich, is out now. He’s also done a big one on Matt Busby.

“When I mentioned someone else had approached me about a book, I think he took it personally. He said, “Would you be interested in doing it with me?” and I said, “Yeah, maybe.”

“To be honest, he already had loads of material. We’d been talking since about 2016, when I was working in Singapore. He’d interviewed me for other projects, so he already knew a lot of my story.

“I’m one of those people who says things as I see them, rightly or wrongly. Maybe sometimes I shouldn’t, but I’m honest. And at 61, what difference does it make now?

“I love football. It’s my life. Without it, I’d have nothing to talk about. I still go to games, always by train. I like meeting people, chatting. You never know who you’ll meet or what might come from it.

“That’s how life works. Being open to people has done me a lot of good.

“So, I told Wayne, ‘If you think I’m holding anything back, ask me.’ And if he wanted more, I’d tell him.

“Thankfully, he didn’t push into the personal stuff, the drinking or social side. I think people get tired of that. For me, it’s about the football. It always has been.”