Sam Allardyce says £6.5m star refused to play for him at Newcastle United to force a transfer
It was a chaotic and dramatic transfer window for Newcastle United, one which was defined by players refusing to do their job and play.
It had already been a tough window with Eddie Howe seeing Newcastle miss out on several of his top targets before Alexander Isak made it clear he wanted to leave.
Isak refused to play in pre-season and then when the Premier League started, before eventually getting his £125m Liverpool transfer on deadline day.
In the other direction, Yoane Wissa also refused to play for Brentford to secure his transfer to Newcastle.
The Magpies ended up paying well over the odds, splashing out £55m to sign Wissa in their desperation to replace Isak.
Wissa was signed with 30 seconds to spare on deadline day but, in a cruel twist of fate, has yet to play for Newcastle due to injury.
Similarly, Isak has had a difficult start to life at Liverpool, who have now lost their last three games, and he unsurprisingly looks unfit after going so long without playing a game.
Players using their influence to force through transfers is nothing new, though, and Sam Allardyce has revealed Scott Parker did it to him at St. James’ Park nearly 20 years ago.
Scott Parker refused to play for Sam Allardyce at Newcastle United
Newcastle signed Parker for £6.5m in 2005, after the young starlet had struggled to live up to his potential at Chelsea.
Parker would show promise at Newcastle, playing 73 games over the next two seasons, but the Toon fans never really took to him.
That led to a scenario in 2007 when Allardyce, fresh off being hired at Newcastle, was told by Parker that he wouldn’t be playing for him.
When asked if a player ever refused to play for him on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Allardyce revealed: “Scott did it when I was at Newcastle.
“It wasn’t too bad. It was a straightforward, I need to leave and you need to get rid of me as quickly as you possibly can.
“And I’d only been in the job for, I don’t know, a day, two days. And I think that there were two reasons for that. I understood the first reason, which was he felt that the Newcastle fans didn’t like him.
“And the Newcastle fans, if they don’t like what they see, show their disapproval, rightly so. But they also get behind you extremely well, if they do like what you do. And so I was faced with the fact that they, I think it was his first, he’d only been there one season.
“Good player, of course, obviously. And what do you do? Can’t stay here, can’t cope with it, need to move.”
Newcastle at least made a meagre profit, selling Parker to West Ham for £7m, where he went on to become a club legend.
Allardyce would briefly manage Parker in London, too, before the midfielder moved to Tottenham.
Why Newcastle fans did not like Scott Parker
Parker became captain at Newcastle, but supporters’ dislike for him potentially stems from a frosty reception he gave them in 2006.
Newcastle lost 1-0 to Sheffield United in November, dropping into the relegation zone, during which Parker sarcastically applauded fans after he was jeered for pulling out of a tackle.
Afterwards, Parker apologised to fans, as reported by Sky Sports: “I know I shouldn’t have done what I did, getting involved with supporters at St James’ Park and I can only apologise to them.
“But it was all heat-of-the-moment stuff.”
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