David Parker (football manager)

David Parker

Personal information
Date of birth	(1984-04-27) 27 April 1984
Place of birth	Sutton Coldfield, England
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Club information
Current team	Birmingham City Ladies
Teams managed
Years	Team
2006–2007	Chicago Fire (Youth)
2008–2009	New York Red Bulls (Youth)
2009–	Birmingham City Ladies (Centre of Excellence)
2010–	Birmingham City Ladies Reserves
2011–	Birmingham City Ladies

David Parker (born 27 April 1984) is an English football manager. He is the Manager of the Birmingham City Ladies^[1] in the FA Women's Super League. Aged 26 he became the youngest manager in English football and one of the youngest ever to hold the FA – UEFA A Licence. He is currently the longest serving manager in the FAWSL and current FAWSL Manager of the year (2014).

Coaching career

Early years

By the age of 21 Parker had completed his UEFA B Licence and published two articles on the football industry; his first explored the motivational techniques of Brian Clough, (2005), "A Report on the Motivational Theories of Brian Clough (1935–2004)", and the second a report investigating football finances, (2005), "Human Resource Accounting in Football Clubs: Comparative Study of Accounting Practices". These articles were completed during his time at university where he completed his degree at Birmingham University, achieving a First Class Double Honours Degree in Business and Finance. After returning from a spell coaching in the MLS, he took up a position with Amisco (Prozone)^[2] as the Head Performance Analyst (where he currently combines his role with Birmingham City Ladies). Through this role he works in association with some of the biggest clubs in the Premier League.

Birmingham City Ladies

At the start of the 2011 FA WSL season, Parker was appointed as the Manager^[3] after a successful 2010–11 season with the Reserve team, where he led them to the FA Premier League Reserves League Title in his first season in charge.^[4]

In 2011 Birmingham City Ladies came close to winning the FAWSL at the first attempt, leading for most of the campaign before being overhauled by Arsenal on the penultimate day of the season. They also reached the Continental Cup Final but once again found Arsenal in the way at Burton Albion F.C. The season was notable for the goalscoring exploits of Rachel Williams who finished as leading scorer as well as winning the FA Players' Player of the Year Award. Due to the 2nd-place finish in the 2011 FA WSL Birmingham City Ladies qualified for a place in the 2012–13 UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32 for the first time in their history.

In May 2012 the Birmingham City Ladies won their first FA Women's Cup, beating Chelsea on penalties in the final at Ashton Gate in Bristol. Also in 2012, for the second consecutive year, the club finished 2nd in the FA WSL and were runners-up in the Continental Cup Final, both to Arsenal. The 2nd-place finish in the league qualified Birmingham for the 2013–14 UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32 for the 2nd season running.

During the 2013 campaign saw a transitional year where many star names left the football club due to Birmingham's inability to compete financially with the big clubs. However, by successfully transitioning the team with the introduction of the youngsters, the average age of the team dropped from 27 to 21 and a foundation was built that still maintained them as one of the most competitive teams in the league. Still competing the UEFA Champions League in 2013/14 season Birmingham qualified for the Quarter Finals for the first time in their history.

In the spring of 2014 Birmingham beat Arsenal 3-0 on aggregate to progress to the Semi Finals of the Champions League and faced Swedish side Tyreso which contained many of the women's games star players, such as Marta. It was a unique achievement for a semi professional side completing with full-time clubs, with far superior budgets in the biggest club competition. Birmingham came within 20 minutes of continuing the remarkable run by almost reaching the final, before falling short in the final stages of the game.

Birmingham continued this extraordinary run in the FAWSL by again almost winning the league for the third time in four seasons. In a remarkable end to the season Birmingham missed out on the title by 1 goal in an agonising game v Notts County. Birmingham continued to demonstrate that despite the small financial resources available to them they are still able to compete with the top clubs in England.

Honours & Achievements

Managerial

Birmingham City Ladies (2011–present)

• UEFA Women's Champions League – Semi Finalists: 2014
• Women's FA Cup – Winner (1): 2012
• FA Women's Super League – Runners Up (2): 2011, 2012
• FA Women's Super League – Top 4 Finish (4): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
• FA WSL Continental Cup – Runners Up (2): 2011, 2012

Birmingham City Ladies Reserves / Development Squad (2010–present)

• FA Women's Premier League – Reserve League (1): 2010–11
• FA Women's Super League Development Cup (1): 2014-15

Managerial statistics

As of 02 Feb 2016

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	Win %
Birmingham City Ladies Reserves		27 July 2010	15 May 2011	7001240000000000000♠24	7001160000000000000♠16	7000100000000000000♠1	7000700000000000000♠7	7001690000000000000♠69	7001380000000000000♠38	7001666700000000000♠66.67
Birmingham City Ladies		14 April 2011		7002115000000000000♠115	7001610000000000000♠61	7001250000000000000♠25	7001290000000000000♠29	7002192000000000000♠192	7002127000000000000♠127	7001530400000000000♠53.04
Total				7002139000000000000♠139	7001770000000000000♠77	7001260000000000000♠26	7001360000000000000♠36	7002261000000000000♠261	7002165000000000000♠165	7001554000000000000♠55.40

Individual records

• Longest serving Manager in FAWSL (5 years)
• Winning-most record in the FAWSL (2011-2015)
• Record points amassed by a manager in the FAWSL (2011-2015)

References