Club Brugge should have seen the issues with Scott Parker coming after his spells with Fulham and AFC Bournemouth.
That’s according to journalist Hans Vandeweghe, who says it was clear ‘something is wrong’ with the manager from his time at both clubs.
Parker was sacked by Brugge yesterday following a 7-1 aggregate defeat to Benfica in the Champions League after a 5-0 loss away from home in the second leg.
He lasted just 12 games with the Belgian side, with his last league game seeing his side beaten by relegation-threatened Oostende on Friday last week.
Their poor performances had seen them slide 19 points behind league leaders Genk, with the final straw proving to be the hammering at the hands of the Portuguese side.
The sacking is his second of this season, having also been removed by Bournemouth four games into the Premier League season following a 9-0 thrashing at the hands of Liverpool.
He had been with the Cherries since July 2021, joining them a month after leaving Fulham, where he had been since 2019 after stepping up from an assistant manager role.
He led both Fulham and Bournemouth to promotion back to the Premier League during his time in charge but was eventually removed by both, and Vandeweghe believes the warning signs were there for Brugge.
“He had two reasonable performances in England as a coach, at Fulham and at Bournemouth,” he told De Morgen.
“He was promoted twice in the Championship, which is the English second division. But twice he has also been shown the door pretty quickly. That’s a sign that something is wrong anyway.
“But the question is whether he therefore also knew a lot about training. He clearly did not know the ins and outs of the Belgian league when he joined Brugge.
“Moreover, he brought along English assistants, who also knew nothing of the Belgian league. One accusation you often heard was that he locked himself too much in his office with his assistants, losing contact with the players.
“Surely you really noticed that his contacts with the board and the players were getting worse. The players’ mental resilience also deteriorated more and more.
“Club’s slogan is ‘No sweat, no glory’. But in the end, there was very little ‘sweat’, very little commitment. So, then you are not surprised when the coach is out.”
