By Nick Raynor
August 30 2005

Newcastle midfielder Scott Parker insists joining Chelsea 18 months ago was good for him, but he is now happy at Newcastle.

Parker couldn’t hold down a regular place at Chelsea after leaving Charlton to join the blues and was sold on to Newcastle this summer.

 

Parker also says that he had a good relationship with Jose Mourinho.

 

Parker said:

 

"Mourinho is a man you can speak to,"

 

"He's just a normal bloke. Maybe it's my background, but I like to say it how it is. I'm not the type to be opinionated about others, but when it comes to myself, I want to be frank.

 

"The conversation would always be, 'Makelele's done well, but if he doesn't play, you play. Makelele's getting on a bit and when he stops playing well, you're next in and you'll stay there if you play well'.

 

"And I'd say that I understood. Mourinho was straight with me, although the last conversation I had with him was that I was wanted at Chelsea and I'd play a part in the future.

 

"It was after my injury second half of last season with a broken foot and I came away thinking I'd have a good summer, come back and give it a go.

 

"The next thing, Chelsea were listening to offers for me. But that's life. I turn the page.

 

"As a footballer the last thing you think is, 'I'll stay at Man City or Charlton. I'm not going to go to Chelsea, one of the biggest clubs in the world, because I don't think I'll play'.

 

"You go and see if you can play. You back yourself to succeed. If I had the chance again, I'd have still moved.

 

"Imagine if I'd been sitting at Charlton watching Chelsea win the Premiership and thinking, 'I could have gone there but I didn't have the bottle'."

 

"If somebody told me, 'Newcastle have finished fourth in the Premiership', I wouldn't think they had overachieved, I'd expect them to be up there.

 

"I compared that to certain other clubs who wanted me.

 

"Newcastle have a potential that few can match. I'm impressed with the manager. He's a straight guy, a man's man. As a player, honesty's all you want."