Leeds United target linked as former Newcastle United captain’s disastrous 67-day managerial reign ended

Former Newcastle United captain Scott Parker has parted company with Club Brugge after twelve games in charge of the Belgian champions.

Parker was named as successor to former Stoke City defender Carl Hoekens at the Jupiler League club in January but has overseen a run of just two wins in 12 games. They came against Newcastle’s former UEFA Cup opponents Zulte Waregam and KAA Gent - but it was a 3-0 away defeat at relegation-threatened KV Oostende that heightened speculation over his future at the Jan Breydel Stadium over the weekend.

And further questions were asked of Parker after Brugge crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night as a 5-1 hammering helped Benfica round off a 7-1 aggregate win in a round of 16 tie against the Belgians.

Speaking to BT Sport about if he feared the sack in the aftermath of the defeat in Portugal, he said: “I am not sure. I am not in control of that. I understand why you are asking me that question and it has probably been aimed at me for some weeks now. I can’t really control that. I am not in that position to understand it and you are asking probably the wrong person. What I am is fully committed in trying to turn this around and that is what I will try to do.”

Brugge confirmed Parker had been sacked less than 24 hours after the defeat in a short statement released on Wednesday afternoon. It read: “Scott Parker is no longer head coach of Club Brugge. Parker was announced last year as the new head coach of Club Brugge on 31 December. The English ex-international had previously worked at Fulham and Bournemouth and came to be replaced by Club Carl Hoefkens. In 12 games, the Briton could only win 2 times.”

Former Ajax manager and reported Leeds United managerial target Alfred Schreuder has been linked with the vacancy after leaving Brugge to take charge of the Dutch giants last summer.