Parker started his career with Fulham before joining QPR,[1] where he made his name as a nippy and incisive centre back, even though he lacked the height normally associated with his position.
During this period, Parker was sold by QPR to Manchester United for £2 million on 8 August 1991,[3] and he made his debut (now as a specialist right back) against Notts County the same month.
[5] Although United won a second double, he did not play in enough Premier League games for a title medal, and did not feature in the FA Cup Final squad.
Parker previously played under Hill at Chelmsford Sunday League club Priory Sports, alongside Alan Brazil and Micky Droy.
With the score at 0–0, the Germans won a free kick just outside the England penalty area early in the second half and as the ball was tapped to Andreas Brehme, Parker sprinted from the defensive wall to try to block the shot.
Stevens was recalled at right-back for the third-place play off match against Italy and Parker moved into central defence, unfortunately conceding the penalty from which Salvatore Schillaci scored the winning goal.
However, it did not help him curry favour with Robson's replacement as England coach, Graham Taylor, who chose Arsenal's Lee Dixon several times over the next few months, including all bar one of the qualifiers for Euro 1992.
Parker, Dixon, Stevens and Rob Jones were all injured for the tournament itself in Sweden, so Taylor had to pick a central defender to play at right back and England were dismissed at the group stage.
When Terry Venables took over as England coach in 1994, he called up Parker for his first game in charge – a 1–0 win over Denmark at Wembley but then looked at other right backs, including Jones, before installing Gary Neville as his first choice the following year.
[17] Paul has ventured into media punditry and was the lead co-commentator with Steve Bower on Setanta Sports' live Conference National coverage.
From 2011, Parker has worked as a pundit on ESPN Star Sports, Astro SuperSport in Malaysia, Mio Stadium and Channel NewsAsia in Singapore.