2:40pm Wednesday 7th July 2010
Former Aston Villa and Oxford City midfielder Garry Parker has targeted a clean sweep of trophies in his first season at Celtic.
And for the former Aston Villa and Leicester midfielder, who is the club’s new first-team coach, it completes a remarkable few months.
The 44-year-old has joined his old teammate Neil Lennon to complete the Celtic manager’s backroom staff.
But it could have been so different, for Parker had his wife Petra not acted swiftly and called an ambulance when she noticed he had suffered a stroke.
It happened in March while he was recovering at home from a badly broken leg which he suffered while playing for Oxford City Veterans.
Just to add to his woes, Parker was diagnosed with a heart problem while his leg was being operated on.
“I was back home having a kip and Petra noticed one side of my face had dropped,” he said.
“She had seen the TV campaign and recognised the signs immediately. If she had not been so quick, I could have died or been left disabled, she was great.”
Parker, who won the League Cup with Leicester in 1997, said: “I’m in shock about the whole thing. I’m still not out of danger because of the irregular heartbeat and I’m having all sorts of tests.”
Parker, who also played for Abingdon Town, added: “If I have to take tablets for the rest of my life, so be it. I’d never broken a bone in my professional career then this happens.
“But you have to put everything into perspective. I had treatment in the John Radcliffe, which is where they carry out post-mortems on the lads who have died in Afghanistan.
“I saw the bodies come in and you value even more what they are doing out there.”
Parker’s main aim is to wrest the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title from rivals Rangers’ grasp and prevent their Old Firm rivals from claiming a third successive championship.
Parker said: “Your aim is always to win everything you enter.
“The hardest thing in football is winning matches, but that is what we want to do, and we want to win as many as we can.”
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