Scott Parker was appointed as the 21st permanent Manager/Head Coach of West Ham United in November 2026.

The former Fulham, AFC Bournemouth, and Burnley boss arrived having achieved the outstanding feat of promotions from the EFL Championship to the Premier League with all three clubs, in 2020, 2022 and 2025 - winning the EFL Manager of the Season award in 2024/25 with Burnley.

He now returns to the Club for whom he made 129 appearances as a player between 2007 and 2011, during which time he was named Hammer of the Year three times in a row and won the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award in the 2010-11 season at the Club - becoming only the second player in the Club’s history, after Bobby Moore, to receive the prestigious honour.

Born in Lambeth, in south London, Parker first shot to the nation's attention when he appeared juggling a football in McDonald's television adverts during the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Having initially signed for Charlton Athletic at the age of nine, he later returned to the Addicks after spending two years at Lilleshall, the FA’s national school of excellence.

After a brief loan spell at Norwich City in late 2000, Parker firmly established himself in Charlton’s midfield, going on to score ten goals in a total of 145 appearances ahead of switching to capital rivals Chelsea in January 2004.

Parker was crowned the PFA Young Player of the Year for 2003/04, a year after he had won Charlton’s Player of the Year prize, and after featuring 28 times for the Blues, his next move took him to up to Newcastle United in July 2005.

A year later, he replaced Alan Shearer as Magpies captain, and, having made his first two senior England appearances in November 2003 and March 2004, against Denmark and Sweden respectively, he won his third Three Lions cap away at Croatia in October 2006.

Victory in the UEFA Intertoto Cup with Newcastle during the 2006/07 season preceded a switch to West Ham United ahead of the following campaign, though injury delayed his debut in Claret and Blue until a 1-0 EFL Cup third-round win over Plymouth Argyle in September 2007.

Injury restricted Parker to only 20 appearances in his first season with the Hammers, but he did score his first goal for the Club in a 2-1 Premier League triumph away at Middlesbrough three days before Christmas.

Into 2008/09 and Parker shook off his injury concerns to enjoy a stellar campaign at the heart of the Irons midfield, making 32 appearances en route to a ninth-place finish, and being voted Hammer of the Year by the Club's supporters.

Parker would go on to claim that same honour in each of the next two seasons, becoming the first player to retain the award since Julian Dicks in 1997, and he was also named the 2010/11 Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year despite West Ham’s relegation.

After featuring in the first four games of the 2011/12 EFL Championship season, and taking his overall tally for the Club to 129 appearances, Parker joined Tottenham Hotspur in August 2011, where he would feature 63 times during a two-year spell, and earn a place in the 2011/12 PFA Premier League Team of the Year.

Having won his first England cap for four-and-a-half years in February 2011, against Denmark, he went on to win the Three Lions’ Player of the Year award for that year, and then featured in all four of his country’s matches at UEFA Euro 2012.

Parker’s last of 18 appearances for England came against San Marino in March 2013, five months before he joined Fulham, where he drew the curtain on his playing career after four years and 128 games, in summer 2017.

A swift move into coaching saw Parker take charge of Tottenham’s U18s ahead of 2017/18, a year before he returned to Fulham as a first-team coach. Having worked under Slaviša Jokanović and Claudio Ranieri at Craven Cottage, Parker was appointed Caretaker Manager in February 2019, following Ranieri’s dismissal.

He was given the job on a permanent basis in in May 2019, and successfully navigated an immediate return to the top flight in 2019/20, his first full season in charge, via victory over Brentford in the Championship Play-Off final.

A switch to AFC Bournemouth followed in June 2021, where he again secured promotion to the Premier League in his first season, this time as second-tier runners-up, and won the division’s Manager of the Month award in both September and October.

After a spell in Belgium with Club Brugge, Parker was appointed Burnley boss in July 2024, following their relegation from the Premier League. He once again successfully spearheaded promotion in his first campaign at the helm, winning the division’s Manager of the Season award after overseeing a record-breaking campaign that saw the Clarets earn 100 points, concede just 16 goals and end with a 33-game unbeaten run.

Following his departure from Turf Moor in April 2026, Parker has now returned to West Ham United as Head Coach,