Saturday sees one of Fulham’s all-time greats return to Craven Cottage, someone that our current Head Coach holds in the highest esteem.
Fulham Head Coach Scott Parker was part of Roy Hodgson’s England squad at Euro 2012, and has only good things to say about a man whose managerial career began before he was even born.
“It’s absolutely remarkable,” Parker said of the Crystal Palace boss. “Take aside how successful Roy’s been, to think he’s had the horsepower and the drive for a long, long time now, it shows you how good he is at what he does, and what he has done – it’s remarkable.
“He’s doing a fantastic job. I played under Roy for a short space of time with England. He’s a well-detailed, organised coach. I think you see that in his Crystal Palace team.
“Full credit that he’s still looking as young as he is, after all these years of being a manager and the stresses that brings. He’s done remarkably well.
“I have full respect and admiration for Roy and what he’s doing at Crystal Palace. I think everyone knows that when you come up against a Roy Hodgson team, you come up against a well-disciplined, well-organised team that can cause you problems.”
The weekend’s London derby is our first match since the Club submitted our 25-man Premier League squad list.
With 29 senior players in the First Team setup, midfielders Jean Michaël Seri, Stefan Johansen and Kevin McDonald all missed out, while Josh Onomah was ruled out through injury.
“It was a tough decision, obviously,” Parker admitted. “We were left with a lot of numbers and had to make a decision on what I thought was best and how we need to go about it.
“It’s a tough decision because the players left out, I know can help us as well. It’s not been easy, but it is what it is, it was a decision we had to make, and we now go with the 25 I’ve selected.
“Mika is a top quality player and now it’s down to him in the next nine weeks – and that’s all it is, nine weeks – to train well and get me thinking, come January, that there’s an option.
“Stefan and Kev have been here for a long time and have contributed a lot to this football club, and the same goes for them. I’ve had to make a decision here, and they understand that decision.
“And I have no doubt that both of them will be exactly the same as Mika in that sense. They’ll work hard over the next nine weeks and try and prove that decision wrong.”