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| The classic Ben Parker pose: complete with crutches |
When it was announced that our left back-cum-treatment
room fetishist was to be released last week, there seemed to be little other
than a collective, accepting, philosophical shrug of the shoulders amongst
supporters. A stilted career had run its natural course and another, once
promising youngster was to be hitching a ride, looking for a kindly manager in
the lower league backwaters to take him on. Yet to let Ben go with so little
fanfare would be a disservice to a man who’s been woven into the very fabric of
our darkest years and despite the injury setbacks, the setbacks during the
setbacks and the horror of being cast aside for George McCartney, has through
his indomitable spirit – or delusional denial – never lost the desire to come
back, and back, and back again…
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| 2007/08: Breakthrough season |
Such a damning decision may have broken weaker spirited
players, but not Ben. He was back pre-season and ready to rip League One a new
arsehole! And so it was to be, Ben Parker, Leeds United regular… well, not week
in, week out, remember who this is, but all the same, 31 (THIRTY ONE)
appearances between August and May – never mind the play-off heartache at the
hands of Millwall or Simon Grayson’s arrival, this was the Ben Parker season;
60% of his appearances, crammed into 8 months; his only goal (a 35 yarder at
Northampton in an FA Cup replay) and that
run, yeah, you know the run, box-to-box, cut back to Becchio…1-0!!!! – F**k
you, Jimmy Abdou!
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| A jubilant Ben lies in the background with his arms aloft in acclaim - his finest moment on the pitch. |
But that was his
season, hell there were even whispers of an U21 call-up for the Euros. A full uninterrupted
pre-season followed, it seemed we might just have a player on our hands. On the
opening day it all looked so good, another lung bursting run from deep and an
assist for Beckford to put Leeds ahead against Exeter, then it happened, a
hamstring injury.
Since then Ben’s had to contend himself with baffling
medical experts from all corners; only he could end up having surgery on his
hip as part of that recovery process, or find himself leaving the pitch with a
calf injury on his first start, 7 months down the line. Remarkably, that season
was the most prolific of his final 3, the 4 bit-part appearances double his
outings last season, this campaign he only had a cup tie with Bradford under
his belt. It could never end with anything but a parting of the ways.
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| Pre-season 2011, Hillsborough |
Yet despite chiefly remaining in our consciousness
through the medium of sporadic injury update sound bites and tales of almost
mythical proportions of behind closed door comeback games on the official site,
Ben has left an indelible mark on our history. Although I cannot be sure of the
origin of the phrase “weeks not months” I’d like to believe that Ben will one
day be awarded any patenting and merchandising rights.
His spirit cannot be knocked either. Had he been a race
horse, the vet would’ve been in with a lethal dose of succinylcholine
some ago, but Ben never gave up, and I never gave up on him; the sight of Tony
Capaldi and Shane Lowry in the white told me I couldn’t give up. Despite
spending half of his career unable to walk unassisted, here was a lad who saw
off those chancers, who remained not just in the treatment room, but at the
back of the gaffer’s mind (in a very dark corner by the end, admittedly) while
the lesser lights of Sheehan and Bessone were shipped out.
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| Welcome back to the first team... |
Even last season, with the
odds outrageously against him, he was still there, still smiling, still
believing. “Right Ben, I realise you’ve barely kicked a ball in anger in 18
months, but you’re starting at the Emirates…oh and Walcott might get a run out.
Is that okay?” – YES BOSS! The poor guy was on a hiding to nothing, but did he
hide? No! Conceding that late penalty was rough on Ben, but nowhere near as
rough as learning the replay had paid for George McCartney’s return – we all
shared his pain there.
It didn’t get him down
though, nothing ever seemed to. In the end he even appeared to achieve the
impossible, he found a soft spot in Ken Bates’ heart! When Mika Vayrynen was
unceremoniously dumped out of the club, Bates bleated about the £500,000 pissed
away by the club, yet on the back of the 2009-10 season where Ben barely
mustered 2 hours game time, Ken was moved to create a ‘Special Chairman’s
Award’ at the end of season bash, just to honour our number 19.
There were other enduring
facets to the lad too; the humour especially. The Soccer AM ‘Crossbar
Challenge’ appearance where he declared himself, “Ben Parker – stripper”. He
also became the default face of Leeds United for the ceremonial on-pitch
presentations and supporter chats, whether he chose to do it so as to still
feel involved, or so as to assure worried supporters that he was still alive is
unclear, but he excelled.
One particular friend of
mine, not usually renown for shying away from public speaking and publicity
seeking on the back of an electoral campaign was left a bumbling wreck on the
Elland Road pitch by Parker. While standing at the hustings represented no
problems, appearing on the hallowed turf inspired an attack of the nerves –
sensing his uneasiness, Ben simply assured him everything would be fine and
that he was just going to be asked 3 simple questions… he never revealed what
they were, then chose to mime them to him, live on the pitch; a certain Mr We
Beat The Scum One Nil, for once dumbstruck!
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| 2008/09 - His season |
Heck, there was precious
little that Ben didn’t possess in his armour, he even became an unlikely sex
symbol… or maybe that was just my football wife, Jenny. She loved ‘Sexy Arse’
as much for his buns as his runs – any other takers, ladies?
Ben’s most defining act
though, his coup de grace, his finest legacy, that was the moment he stood up
and socked it to the man and it’s the reason why I’ll always have a place in my
heart that’s marked ‘forever Ben’; it occurred on Saturday 21st January 2012 at
the Pavilion pre-match ramble, prior to the Ipswich game. With emotions running
high and the board’s ‘fans’ representative’ already being barracked from all
directions, he then reduced Peter Lorimer to a raging, flustered mess after
contradicting his pay masters to reveal Jonny Howson was sold for the money and
not out of any desire to leave. He’d lost his mate and the team its captain and
he wasn’t gonna take it lying down.
Inevitably and as widely
predicted, he was shipped out on loan days later, up to Carlisle, home for the
discarded and damaged footballers of LS11 – his time was up anyway, but he
chose to go out in a blaze of glory. It was a beautiful moment and I only
regret my boycott of all refreshments at Elland Road deprived me of witnessing
its glory. But it laid the path for others; when Snoddy spoke out earlier this
month, was his decision merely an expression of his frustration, or inspired by
Ben’s act of martyrdom?
If other players follow
and fight the good PR fight, our captain may in retrospect be considered a
visionary, yet it will serve our great Scot well to remember the words of Isaac
Newton:
“If I have been able to
see further, it was only because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”
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| Footballer, Leeds fan, sickpot |
And yet, even now, even
after his enrolment as an honorary dissident, Ken Bates, a man typically
defined by his bitterness towards those who undermine him, even he was still
eager to praise our beloved departing left back last week, offering words of
sincere affection and revealing that he’ll be welcome to have continued use of
the training facilities.
Ben Parker – what a man!
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