QuoteI thought Conor Henderson, Conor Clifford, Sean Thornton, Patrick Roberts ( ex Arsenal) and Mark Bunn, among many, were going to set the world on fire. And of course I was right!
Lee Trundle was amazing but amazing at a certain level.Originally Posted by Razors left peg
I thought Conor Henderson, Conor Clifford, Sean Thornton, Patrick Roberts ( ex Arsenal) and Mark Bunn, among many, were going to set the world on fire. And of course I was right!
Of the names mentioned, Owen Garvan looked a player heading towards greater things at U21 level. There’s a youtube video highlighting Kevin de Bruyne at Chelsea and he looked terrible. You just don’t know for certain how players will turn out. Technical ability is one thing, but so many other factors need to fall into place to make it.
I think Garvan and McPhail both suffered from being seen as throw backs. There was a view that the game had moved on and midfield players had to be box to box dynamos, rather than cultured playmakers. Both lacked pace and were probably perceived to be lacking a work ethic. Sometimes players just need to be at a certain place in a certain era.
Garvan's move to Palace ruined him, they had too many players on their books for a premier league squad, and he missed the cut.
Not saying that if he had been in their squad, he'd have gone on to have an amazing career, but that really was the beginning of the end for him
Troy Parrott has been named Plumbing & Gas Solutions MK Dons Player of the Month for February. His first such award for this season.
I’ve not seen a lot of him, but he’s always reminded me of somebody and I have struggled to identify who it was until today. He was another goal scoring prodigy with technical ability, who maybe lacked a bit of pace and was ultimately converted into a very decent midfield player. It was Norman Whiteside. It looks unlikely that he will be the prolific goal scorer at senior level that we may have hoped for, but he’s a gifted player who may be better suited to a part of the field where he can get on the ball and make an impact. It’s also an area where we are massively deficient in talent and potential. Ray Kennedy of course was another technically proficient striker who possibly lacked pace, who thrived in a deeper position. I’m judging this on quite slender evidence, but for those who have seen more of him, is it a credible possibility?
From a Spurs pov, I'd love to agree with you about Troy, but that Norman Whiteside? Really?
TP is 20.
When Big Norm took to the field for Northern Irelands opening match of the 1982 World Cup Finals in Spain he was aged just 17 years and 41 days and took Pele's record as the youngest ever player to appear at the Finals - a record which he still holds.
In the following season Whiteside played 57 games as a striker for Man U, including 39 in the old First Division, and became the youngest ever goalscorer in a Wembley final - against Liverpool in the Milk Cup - and also the youngest ever scorer in an FA Cup final - against Brighton.
When he was nineteen he was tearing up West Germany home and away in European Championship qualifiers, including scoring the winner in Hamburg.
By the time he was twenty he'd scored the winner in another FA Cup Final - a curling effort against Everton, at the end of a season where he played 43 games for MU, plus 8 as substitute. At 21 he appeared at his second World Cup Finals tournament.
It was only injury which prevented him from becoming an absolute legend at Old Trafford and even then, talk to any MU supporter from the era and they'll tell you he's still a cult hero.
[Btw, please forgive this old man for wallowing in the nostalgia of times past, on a day when Northern Ireland had just announced our latest squad with one Josh Magennis in the Norman Whiteside role!]
As someone of similar vintage with dual allegiances to both Irish sides I will happily wallow in 82 nostalgia. Remember every game from that WC and recently stunned an NI supporter at a fundraising dinner by being able to name the entire 82 squad. It's the wrong forum for this sort of indulgence, but good to hear from you. Hope you are keeping well.
As good as Norman Whiteside was ~ A bit more pace would have brought him up to another level ~ A shame he got that injury / injuries ~ Football was pretty brutal back then and many a good player lost or had a shortened career from injuries ~ Looking back the overly hard physicality of it was crazy but that was the way it was.
Yeah, don’t see the comparison either. Parrot looks a very different player to Whiteside to me. For one thing, Whiteside was a beast of a 17 year old when he came into the NI squad, much stronger than Parrott I would have said.
Out for a spell, got neglected, lay on the bench unselected.
Not the first time I've watched back this goal but watching back prompted by something Richie Sadlier said. He referenced Hendrick putting the arm around Parrott after, and the power an older player embracing and encouraging after a moment like that can have on a young player.
Watching it here and I see McClean saying something passionately into his face. Hendrick is over soon after with the arm around too.
I think, like most Irish fans, these guys know how could Parrott could be. And they see it every day.
Last edited by tetsujin1979; 31/03/2022 at 10:38 AM. Reason: Embedded tweet
Good article on him on the Athletic too: https://theathletic.com/3219301/2022...uple-of-years/
It feels hard to imagine now, but around this time two years ago, Troy Parrott’s lack of first-team opportunities was one of the biggest sub-plots at Tottenham Hotspur. With Harry Kane injured in January 2020 and Son Heung-min ruled out a month later, then-head coach Jose Mourinho was fielding questions at pretty much every press conference about why Parrott wasn’t getting a chance.
He had only turned 18 in February 2020, but Parrott had long since been anointed as Spurs’ Next Big Thing.
Things have been mixed for Parrott since then. Loans at Millwall and Ipswich last season were a steep learning curve, as was a spell out of the MK Dons team during the first half of this campaign. At that point, despite how young Parrott still is (his 20th birthday was last month), the narrative of a young player destined not to fulfil his potential had been set in some people’s minds.
Parrott’s turnaround since then has been extremely impressive. He has knuckled down after having an epiphany that he couldn’t waste his opportunity at League One side MK Dons this season. “I just realised that you get one shot at this football game and where I was at the time wasn’t helping me get to where I wanted to get to. I realised I needed to do more,” Parrott said last week. The turnaround has seen Parrott reclaim his place in the resurgent MK Dons team and become a fans’ favourite thanks to his prodigious work ethic and commitment.
He has remained a fixture in the Republic of Ireland squad, loved by the team’s coaches, and came off the bench on Tuesday to score a brilliant 97th-minute winner against Lithuania.
What then does this all mean for his Spurs future (a question asked by some of our subscribers this week that we wanted to answer)?
In the short term, Spurs have an option to extend Parrott’s contract, which expires in the summer of 2023, by a year. They are expected to take up that option and then loan Parrott out again next season (Spurs do want a back-up to Kane, but the plan is to bring in someone more established). This will likely be to either a Championship or another League One club. It could be MK Dons, who are hopeful of winning promotion to the Championship, and would happily have Parrott again, whichever division they are in.
Beyond that, the expectation is that Parrott probably won’t end up being a Spurs first-team player. He is not being spoken about in those terms at the club and has not had contact with Antonio Conte since the Italian took over at Tottenham.
But Parrott has always had a knack for making a big impact and being hard to ignore (as he showed again on Tuesday night for Ireland), so perhaps he will go on and surprise a few people.
That would of course be the dream outcome for him and the club, who at some point will have to replace Kane. Parrott has often had to shoulder comparisons with Kane, which hasn’t always been helpful — and perhaps explains to some extent why there was so much hype about him from such a young age.
It feels now as though things have calmed down a bit. That the young teenager who some had concerns over his maturity and the company he kept has grown up a lot on and off the pitch.
And it’s easy to forget that he’s only just turned 20. Even in only the last couple of years, Parrot has packed a lot in.
One of the curious things about Parrott is that for all the speculation about whether he was sufficiently focused a couple of years ago, his attitude has generally been very good. Instagram pictures may have circulated back then of him supposedly enjoying the high life, but his coaches have tended to enjoy working with him.
Around that time, for instance, he was an unused substitute for the Republic of Ireland senior team on Monday in their final Euro 2020 qualifier against Denmark. After the game, the team had a few drinks and Parrott was invited along and encouraged to join the rest of the players. Despite a reputation for being “flashy”, thanks largely to social media, Parrott declined, wanting a good night’s sleep before playing for Ireland Under-21s the following evening. He duly scored to cap an outstanding display in a 4-1 win against Sweden Under-21s. It came five days after he had earned his first senior cap in the friendly against New Zealand, and Parrott’s willingness to play for the under-21s having become a full international was appreciated by the team’s coaches.
The excitement around Parrott at this point was palpable. In September 2019, he had been given his Spurs debut as a 17-year-old in the League Cup match at Colchester by Mauricio Pochettino.
Mourinho then gave him his Premier League debut as a substitute against Burnley three months later. In between those milestones, he scored four for Spurs in the UEFA Youth League game against Red Star Belgrade and was widely considered a superstar of the future. Parrott was strong, hard-running, had a good appreciation of space and was a clinical finisher. Some of the Spurs academy coaches thought he wasn’t far off being ready for the first team given how developed he was physically. It seemed as though the youngster, who had scored goals at such a prodigious rate in Irish youth football for Belvedere FC would seamlessly make the transition to academy and then Premier League football.
When Kane and Son picked up injuries in early 2020, the clamour for Parrott to play for the first team ratcheted up even further. Mourinho was repeatedly asked about Parrott (it was the second question of the press conference before the FA Cup tie against Norwich in March 2020) and continually set about managing expectations. On one occasion, he said that most Spurs fans, despite their demands for Parrott’s inclusion, didn’t even know what the Irishman looked like.
Fundamentally Mourinho didn’t feel Parrott was ready from a footballing perspective. But as The Athletic reported at the time there were some off-field concerns — mainly about how he carried himself and behaved at times, especially when surrounded by some of his friends.
Parrott made two further substitute appearances for Spurs during this period, but really he should have been out on loan. The plan was to send him to Charlton in January 2020 but the move fell through when it emerged that Parrott wouldn’t have been eligible as a homegrown player in European competition if he had completed the move. It was a big blow for Parrott, who was especially keen for the game time to give himself the best possible chance of making Ireland’s Euro 2020 squad if they won their play-off match to qualify.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and Parrott has not played for Spurs since just before football was halted in March 2020. This is in stark contrast to the two other academy graduates making their way into the Spurs team at the same time, Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp. Both have become regulars in the first-team set-up (though it’s worth remembering Tanganga is three years older, turning 23 today, and Skipp is a year and a half older at 21).
In any case, it was agreed that Parrott should be loaned for the 2020-21 season, as had been the plan for the second half of the previous campaign. He joined up with Championship side Millwall but it didn’t really work out, and after failing to score in 14 games, dropped down a division to link up with League One side Ipswich Town for the second half of the campaign. Parrott has since admitted that it was a tough blow mentally to be seen as someone who hadn’t cut it at Championship level. But he knuckled down and scored a couple of goals for Ipswich, and those watching him observed how much he was developing physically and filling out. It also wasn’t the easiest time to be joining new clubs, with the country in hard lockdown.
Parrott then scored twice for Ireland in a World Cup qualifier against Andorra in June 2021. The goals (the first an excellent solo effort) turned the game around from a 1-0 deficit to a 2-1 lead, and may have saved manager Stephen Kenny his job.
At this point, Parrott really dedicated himself to getting in the best possible shape. He only allowed himself a week’s holiday after those internationals and then worked with a personal trainer a few times a week in Dublin to give him a physical edge ahead of the new season.
The hard yards put in seemed to reap instant rewards when Parrott scored twice in his first three matches for MK Dons, whom he joined in July for this season. The goals then dried up, however, and Parrott found himself out of the team. As January approached, it even seemed possible that he might have to be loaned to another club for the second half of the season.
Parrott ensured though that those conversations never had to take place. He fought his way back into the side, and since January 22 has started all 13 of MK Dons’ matches.
Reflecting on his renaissance, Parrott said last week: “The most important thing is you should train how you play and that’s one of the things I have picked up while I have been out on loan.
“I didn’t need to change anything off the pitch. I was living how I should have been. I have my family around me, which is good for me so most of it was just on-the-pitch stuff. It’s about realising some stuff and growing up as a person and as a player.”
Parrott added after his goal against Lithuania on Tuesday,: “It’s been a really good week. Most of the work is done in training —it’s so important, especially for me.”
Parrott has largely played on the right of a front three, and scored twice against Cheltenham in March to end a goal drought lasting almost six months. In total, he has five goals and registered six assists for MK Dons this season. It’s a pretty modest tally but manager Liam Manning has been very pleased overall with Parrott’s contribution. His attitude, his diligence in tracking back, and the improvements to his positional play have all been well-received. MK Dons play an energetic, pressing game, and Parrott’s indefatigability and industry have been very important to that.
Off the pitch, Parrott’s attitude is said to have been excellent, living a quiet life in Milton Keynes with his family. And although the MK Dons coaches have worked hard with Parrott, it is his own determination to make the best of the loan that has seen things turn around so sharply. Parrott’s improvement has contributed to an upturn in the fortunes of MK Dons, who in those 13 games since he returned to the side, have won nine and only lost one. They are third in League One, three points off the automatic promotion places.
“He’s absolutely one of the fans’ favourites,” says James Reeve, who covers MK Dons for radio station MKFM. “When he scored against Cheltenham, the response from the fanbase was exceptional. Everyone was willing him to get a goal because of how well he’d been performing. He really deserved it, and has become one of the first names on the team sheet.”
The fact he is one of Manning’s most trusted players despite only being 20 says a lot about Parrott’s character and application.
The other side of all this is that Parrott has not scored many goals in League One, and is no longer playing as an out-and-out striker. It was in this role that Parrott forged his reputation as a goal machine as he rose through the ranks in Ireland and then at Spurs. Some observers would like to see Parrott revert to that striker role, even though there is an acceptance that learning to play in different positions should help his development. The important thing will be nailing down a position and proving that he is still a goal threat.
“[Traditional number nine] is where I’ve played since I was a kid, really,” Parrott said last week. “I’ve been moved around a lot during the short time of my career so far, but as long as I’m in the team and playing I don’t mind, I can do a job wherever.”
Parrott reiterated this message on Tuesday night after he had played in three different positions during his half an hour on the pitch. Having come on as a centre-forward, he moved to the left and then to the right shortly before his goal.
“He’s had to play in a variety of positions,” Ireland’s manager Kenny, who ultimately sees Parrott as a No 9, said before the game.
“He had a little period where he lost his place, and you are thinking, ‘right, he’s got a job to do to make sure he stays in the international squad, because this is a little test for him.’”
It’s a test Parrott has passed, and within the Ireland camp, there’s been a great deal of pride seeing how the youngster has knuckled down.
“Troy has been flying in training,” Ireland’s assistant manager Keith Andrews said this week. “There has been a real noticeable difference, I would say, in Troy between this and the last camp. You sometimes forget how young Troy is. I have a really good relationship with him. Up until a certain point in Troy’s career, he was just on that upward trajectory. And then there were a couple of loan moves but they are invaluable experiences.
”Even at MK Dons during that spell when he was a little bit out of the team he pressed the reset button and just started to work hard. He has got his reward for that from his club manager and what we have seen this week. He has been really, really sharp. We have a lot of belief in him.”
Andrews and Kenny have always been big admirers of Parrott, dating back to when they worked with him at under-21 level. Kenny always felt Parrott has a movie-star presence around him, a knack for coming up with something special. There was an away game at Sweden in September 2019 when Parrott came off the bench to score twice to secure a 3-1 win, and Kenny’s sense was that Parrott would always somehow end up being the story, whatever happened.
This was the case on Tuesday night with that spectacular late goal (as well as a couple of missed chances) — and as Kenny pointed out, Parrott is one of those players who has a habit of producing when it matters most.
It’s another interesting dichotomy in the Parrott story: the selfless team player and the star capable of producing Hollywood moments.
It will be interesting to see which of the two becomes the more dominant element of his game in the coming years.
Because even if, as expected, Parrott’s long-term future isn’t at Tottenham, his is a career that many will be watching with a great deal of interest. He may never be the free-scoring striker of his younger days, but Parrott now appears well set up for a career in English professional football. That wasn’t a guarantee at the end of last season after those difficult loans.
Having Spurs on his CV will help his cause, and he will receive glowing references from everyone at MK Dons. He’s also still only 20 and has plenty of time to improve and develop.
There’s also a school of thought that Parrott should benefit from the modified expectations surrounding him now. It’s not easy being the most exciting prospect in your age group who everyone assumes is destined for great things. At Spurs, just ask Marcus Edwards, who was similarly feted but then endured a tricky period and is now taking a more circuitous route back towards the top by thriving in Portugal.
Parrott has also been burdened by the constant Kane comparisons. Even the underwhelming loans have been held up by some as another similarity with the England captain. A crucial difference between the two is that Kane was never held up as Spurs’ great hope of the future. As a later developer, he was able to fly much more under the radar. Parrott could never enjoy that luxury.
But the reality is that even within the Tottenham academy, let alone the first team, there’s a lot of competition. Spurs also have Dane Scarlett (18), Kion Etete (20) and Jamie Donley (17), who are similarly gifted and have the same dream of being the next Kane. The law of averages suggests it’ll be very difficult for any of them, including Parrott, to make it as a regular first-team player.
Academy coaches always say though how important it is to set up young players for a career in the game more broadly, not just at Spurs or Chelsea or wherever they are working.
Parrott now appears well placed to do that.At this point, Parrott really dedicated himself to getting in the best possible shape. He only allowed himself a week’s holiday after those internationals and then worked with a personal trainer a few times a week in Dublin to give him a physical edge ahead of the new season.
The hard yards put in seemed to reap instant rewards when Parrott scored twice in his first three matches for MK Dons, whom he joined in July for this season. The goals then dried up, however, and Parrott found himself out of the team. As January approached, it even seemed possible that he might have to be loaned to another club for the second half of the season.
Parrott ensured though that those conversations never had to take place. He fought his way back into the side, and since January 22 has started all 13 of MK Dons’ matches.
Reflecting on his renaissance, Parrott said last week: “The most important thing is you should train how you play and that’s one of the things I have picked up while I have been out on loan.
“I didn’t need to change anything off the pitch. I was living how I should have been. I have my family around me, which is good for me so most of it was just on-the-pitch stuff. It’s about realising some stuff and growing up as a person and as a player.”
Parrott added after his goal against Lithuania on Tuesday,: “It’s been a really good week. Most of the work is done in training —it’s so important, especially for me.”
Parrott has largely played on the right of a front three, and scored twice against Cheltenham in March to end a goal drought lasting almost six months. In total, he has five goals and registered six assists for MK Dons this season. It’s a pretty modest tally but manager Liam Manning has been very pleased overall with Parrott’s contribution. His attitude, his diligence in tracking back, and the improvements to his positional play have all been well-received. MK Dons play an energetic, pressing game, and Parrott’s indefatigability and industry have been very important to that.
Off the pitch, Parrott’s attitude is said to have been excellent, living a quiet life in Milton Keynes with his family. And although the MK Dons coaches have worked hard with Parrott, it is his own determination to make the best of the loan that has seen things turn around so sharply. Parrott’s improvement has contributed to an upturn in the fortunes of MK Dons, who in those 13 games since he returned to the side, have won nine and only lost one. They are third in League One, three points off the automatic promotion places.
“He’s absolutely one of the fans’ favourites,” says James Reeve, who covers MK Dons for radio station MKFM. “When he scored against Cheltenham, the response from the fanbase was exceptional. Everyone was willing him to get a goal because of how well he’d been performing. He really deserved it, and has become one of the first names on the team sheet.”
The fact he is one of Manning’s most trusted players despite only being 20 says a lot about Parrott’s character and application.
The other side of all this is that Parrott has not scored many goals in League One, and is no longer playing as an out-and-out striker. It was in this role that Parrott forged his reputation as a goal machine as he rose through the ranks in Ireland and then at Spurs. Some observers would like to see Parrott revert to that striker role, even though there is an acceptance that learning to play in different positions should help his development. The important thing will be nailing down a position and proving that he is still a goal threat.
“[Traditional number nine] is where I’ve played since I was a kid, really,” Parrott said last week. “I’ve been moved around a lot during the short time of my career so far, but as long as I’m in the team and playing I don’t mind, I can do a job wherever.”
Parrott reiterated this message on Tuesday night after he had played in three different positions during his half an hour on the pitch. Having come on as a centre-forward, he moved to the left and then to the right shortly before his goal.
“He’s had to play in a variety of positions,” Ireland’s manager Kenny, who ultimately sees Parrott as a No 9, said before the game.
“He had a little period where he lost his place, and you are thinking, ‘right, he’s got a job to do to make sure he stays in the international squad, because this is a little test for him.’”
It’s a test Parrott has passed, and within the Ireland camp, there’s been a great deal of pride seeing how the youngster has knuckled down.
“Troy has been flying in training,” Ireland’s assistant manager Keith Andrews said this week. “There has been a real noticeable difference, I would say, in Troy between this and the last camp. You sometimes forget how young Troy is. I have a really good relationship with him. Up until a certain point in Troy’s career, he was just on that upward trajectory. And then there were a couple of loan moves but they are invaluable experiences.
”Even at MK Dons during that spell when he was a little bit out of the team he pressed the reset button and just started to work hard. He has got his reward for that from his club manager and what we have seen this week. He has been really, really sharp. We have a lot of belief in him.”
Andrews and Kenny have always been big admirers of Parrott, dating back to when they worked with him at under-21 level. Kenny always felt Parrott has a movie-star presence around him, a knack for coming up with something special. There was an away game at Sweden in September 2019 when Parrott came off the bench to score twice to secure a 3-1 win, and Kenny’s sense was that Parrott would always somehow end up being the story, whatever happened.
This was the case on Tuesday night with that spectacular late goal (as well as a couple of missed chances) — and as Kenny pointed out, Parrott is one of those players who has a habit of producing when it matters most.
It’s another interesting dichotomy in the Parrott story: the selfless team player and the star capable of producing Hollywood moments.
It will be interesting to see which of the two becomes the more dominant element of his game in the coming years.
Because even if, as expected, Parrott’s long-term future isn’t at Tottenham, his is a career that many will be watching with a great deal of interest. He may never be the free-scoring striker of his younger days, but Parrott now appears well set up for a career in English professional football. That wasn’t a guarantee at the end of last season after those difficult loans.
Having Spurs on his CV will help his cause, and he will receive glowing references from everyone at MK Dons. He’s also still only 20 and has plenty of time to improve and develop.
There’s also a school of thought that Parrott should benefit from the modified expectations surrounding him now. It’s not easy being the most exciting prospect in your age group who everyone assumes is destined for great things. At Spurs, just ask Marcus Edwards, who was similarly feted but then endured a tricky period and is now taking a more circuitous route back towards the top by thriving in Portugal.
Parrott has also been burdened by the constant Kane comparisons. Even the underwhelming loans have been held up by some as another similarity with the England captain. A crucial difference between the two is that Kane was never held up as Spurs’ great hope of the future. As a later developer, he was able to fly much more under the radar. Parrott could never enjoy that luxury.
But the reality is that even within the Tottenham academy, let alone the first team, there’s a lot of competition. Spurs also have Dane Scarlett (18), Kion Etete (20) and Jamie Donley (17), who are similarly gifted and have the same dream of being the next Kane. The law of averages suggests it’ll be very difficult for any of them, including Parrott, to make it as a regular first-team player.
Academy coaches always say though how important it is to set up young players for a career in the game more broadly, not just at Spurs or Chelsea or wherever they are working.
Parrott now appears well placed to do that.
Thanks to Ole Ole and Jbyrne for those posts. Made for a very enjoyable subsidised EU lunch.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Very enjoyable article. Nice balance and plenty of perspectives from his clubs and his country.
Dan McD tweeting saying it's notable how SK is talking up Troy as a person, his character. Perhaps this is to answer some doubts?
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