Is Scott Parker ‘too good to be true’, perhaps? And, if he is the best Championship manager of the last decade, why has the 46-year-old not made the grade in the Premier League in three attempts?

West Ham, on their official website, highlighted Parker’s ability to carve out ‘top-level defensive’ performances at Turf Moor. Considering that Nuno’s successor will be without Konstantinos Mavropanos initially, plugging those gaping holes in the Hammers’ hull will be a difficult, if necessary, task.

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cumberworth57

His teams are well organised and hard to beat which currently we are not. Let’s deal with here and now and worry about the future if it happens.

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igrimshaw01

I’m sure Parker can get us back in the prem, but not sure he can get is to succeed in the prem. That said, we need to look at the current situation and get behind him ⚒️

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His team often prioritised structure and control over entertainment. Burnley had the fourth-highest possession stats in the league that season, but were tenth for shots.

It’s been a long while since we’ve seen the ‘West Ham Way’ in action. Parker is unlikely to bring back the free-scoring days of Ron Greenwood. But, as Nuno leaves the club closer to the bottom half than league leaders Middlesbrough, does it really matter how West Ham achieve promotion?

“Don’t think they’ll be arsed [about the style of play] when he gets them promoted,” one Burnley fan quips on social media, those 2025 post-promotion beers hardly embittered by the nature of their eventual second-place finish.

“West Ham fans will hate his style of football,” counters another. “More than any club, they demand attacking, creative football. Parker will fall far short of expectations, even if they get promotion.

“Hang on, what about the ‘West Ham Way’ of playing the great game?” chuckles another. “Enjoy the borefest incoming Hammers!”

The obvious comparison to draw here, then, is with David Moyes. The most successful Hammers boss of the modern era, and the only one to lift a European trophy apart from the aforementioned Greenwood.

OK, West Ham’s football was pretty attritional at times under the Scot. Yes, mercurial talents like Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta spent much of their time on a pretty short leash. But what the Hammers would give right now to turn the clock back to 2023. You could say the same about Burnley and 2024/25.

Parker is much missed at Turf Moor as the Clarets fear another relegation

Fabio Celestini’s Clarets were held to an insipid 1-1 draw by QPR last night. A year-and-a-half ago, Parker was masterminding a 5-0 win in the very same stadium.

One image summed up his granite-carved Clarets outfit that day even more than the five goals; a video showing a fleet of Burnley players running at full speed to stop a QPR counter-attack.

“Same fixture, 18 months later. A video speaks a thousand words,” fumes one supporter, pining for the standards, the resilience and the team ethic that epitomised Parker’s side at their best. “A 0-5 win that could’ve been more, reaching 100 points – compared to this absolutely lethargic, turgid footy.”

“You can have talent, but without culture it’s worthless,” says another. If West Ham have gone from Conference League champions to eighth in the second-tier in three years, a 22nd-placed Burnley appear to be sleepwalking towards successive relegations just one year after becoming Championship centurions.

“Problem is Burnley’s culture problems run so deep. Remarkable how Parker managed to paper over the cracks.”

“Parker to West Ham. I know we derided ‘Parkerball’, but if we had kept him rather than sacking him too late, we might not have been in the mess we currently are.”

“Mental to me that Clarets fans are slating Parker going West Ham so much after a 100-point season with two losses when we’re [currently] sat third bottom with one win. Say what you want about style of play, but we’d be much better off if we kept him.”

“Irritating seeing loads of fans laughing at West Ham fans saying ‘good luck, blah, blah, blah’. Our fans acting like we didn’t have an incredible year under him is insane. He’s statistically the best Championship manager ever. It’s a great appointment.

“Enjoy the promotion, Hammers.”