Parker played for his country at all youth levels before reaching the senior side and was a member of the England squad that reached the quarter-finals at Euro 2012.

He guided Fulham to promotion to the Premier League in his first season in charge - and in May 2022 achieved the same feat with Bournemouth.

As a player he was named the PFA Young Player of the Year in 2003/04, FWA player of the year for the 2010/11 season, and also won the England Player of the Year award in 2011.

Parker started his professional career at Charlton Athletic where he stayed from 1998 until 2004.

He became a crucial part of Charlton's midfield and replaced injured captain Mark Kinsella.

His debut for the club came against Bury FC as a substitute in 1997, a game that ended 0-0.

But, in January 2004, he left The Valley and moved to Chelsea for £10million.

At the end of the 2003-04 season, he was named the PFA Young Player of the Year.

However, despite shining in previous rounds, he broke a metatarsal bone against Norwich and missed the semi-final and final of the 2004/05 League Cup.

This effectively ended his time at Chelsea as he moved to Newcastle United for £6.5million in the summer of 2005 and regularly started in their first team.

He led Newcastle United to UEFA Intertoto Cup victory in 2006.

Parker's nomadic career continued when he joined West Ham United in 2007 for £7million and he stayed until 2011.

He was voted Hammer of the Year in three consecutive seasons (2008/09, 09/10, 10/11) and became a crucial part of the team.

One of his most valuable contributions was when he scored the winner against Wigan that kept West Ham in the Premier League in 2009/10.

However, despite his inspirational team talks, even though he wasn't the team captain, he was unable to keep West Ham in the Premier League the following season and the club were relegated under Avram Grant. But he won the FWA Footballer of the Year award, and was on the shortlist for the PFA Players' Player of the Year but missed out to Gareth Bale.

He joined West Ham's rivals Tottenham at the end of August 2011 for £5.5million after handing in a transfer request.

At Tottenham, he was named their player of the year for the 2011-12 season and captained them against Blackburn at Ewood Park.

His time at White Hart Lane only lasted two seasons, but he was named Player of the Year for the 2011–12 season.

Parker joined Fulham for a final swansong in August 2013 but was unable to keep them in the Premier League.

He played a further three seasons in the Championship with the West London club before retiring at the end of the 2016/17 season after making a 128 appearances for the club, a similar amount to games he'd played for Charlton and West Ham.

Parker joined the youth team coaching set-up with Spurs after his retirement, but by July 2018 had found his way back to newly promoted Fulham as first-team coach under Slavisa Jokanovic. But the Serbian manager was sacked in November and replaced by Claudio Ranieri.

The Italian was unable to lift Fulham away from a relegation dogfight, and with the club in 19th place in February 2019 he was dismissed and Parker was appointed caretaker-manager.

Parker couldn't steer Fulham to safety and they were relegated with five games to go in the 2018/19 season.

Parker was given the manager's role for the following season and successfully guided Fulham to promotion in the 2020 play-off final at Wembley after a 2-1 victory over Brentford.

Parker struggled to get results in the Premier League and Fulham were relegated in May 2021 after defeat to Burnley. He left the club in June by mutual consent.

Parker joined the south-coast club on a three-year deal that same month and quickly assembled a promotion-winning squad, including the likes of Phillip Billing, Kieffer Moore, Dominic Solanke and Lewis Cook.

They occupied second spot for large parts of the season and confirmed promotion with a 1-0 victory over Nottingham Forest. Bournemouth finished runners-up to champions Fulham by two points.

Parker won back-to-back manager of the month awards in September and October.

Parker is married to Carly Parker, Harry Arter's sister. They have four sons.