Cast your mind back 18 months and you’ll remember that Spurs were in the midst of one of the longest managerial searches in modern memory.
After sacking Jose Mourinho, the north London club spent three months scrambling for a replacement for Nuno Espirito Santo, and during that time, they considered many different options, including their former player, Scott Parker.
At the time, Parker was at Fulham, but he was ready to leave the club due to a falling out with Tony Khan over the club’s transfer policy.
Unfortunately, Parker’s next job in management wasn’t as high-profile as Tottenham, he would end up at Bournemouth, before eventually heading to Club Brugge earlier this year.
Parker has had a difficult start to his tenure at Club Brugge just 18 months after being linked to Spurs.
Indeed, after his move to Belgium, his managerial career has taken a dip. The former Premier League midfielder has won just two of his first 10 games in charge of the Belgian club, drawing six and losing a further two.
Club Brugge is a team that is expected to dominate the Belgian league, having won the league in five of the last seven campaign, but their recent run of form under Parker is not good enough.
The club’s hierarchy will be hoping that Parker can turn things around, but his start does not inspire confidence.
Parker took over from Carl Hoefkens who had done a great job in getting the Belgian club through the Champions League Group Stages, but now, all of Hoefkens’ work looks like it will be undone.
Similarly, Graham Potter at Chelsea, who was also linked to the Tottenham job at the same time as Parker, is also struggling.
Potter is enduring a terrible spell at Chelsea and has only been able to pick up two wins in his last 16 games in charge, but due to his good start to life at Stamford Bridge, his win percentage is slightly better than Parker’s 20% as his nine wins in 26 games equates to a 35% win ratio.
Parker’s struggles at Brugge are concerning, particularly after a shoddy start to the season with Bournemouth which saw him sacked by the Cherries. However, it is worth noting that the Belgian league is a unique league to manage in due to their playoff structure, and it may take Parker some time to adapt to his new surroundings.
Parker’s poor start to life at Club Brugge will undoubtedly raise questions about his managerial abilities, and it looks as though Spurs may have dodged something of a bullet when deciding against hiring him as Mourinho’s replacement back in 2021.
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