David Parker (born 27 April 1984) is an English football manager. He was the manager of Birmingham City Ladies in the FA Women's Super League from 2011 to 2017. Aged 26 he became the youngest manager in English football and one of the youngest ever to hold the FA – UEFA A Licence.
Contents
Coaching career
Parker completed his UEFA B Licence and published two articles on the football industry; his first explored the motivational techniques of Brian Clough, (2005), "A Report on the Motivational Theories of Brian Clough (1935–2004)", and the second a report investigating football finances, (2005), "Human Resource Accounting in Football Clubs: Comparative Study of Accounting Practices". After returning from a spell coaching in the MLS, he took up a position with Amisco (Prozone) as the Head Performance Analyst.
Birmingham City Ladies
At the start of the 2011 FA WSL season, Parker was appointed as the Manager after a successful 2010–11 season with the Reserve team, where he led them to the FA Premier League Reserves League Title in his first season in charge.
In 2011 Birmingham City Ladies finished in 2nd-place, qualifiying for a place in the 2012–13 UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32 for the first time in their history.
In May 2012 the Birmingham City Ladies won their first FA Women's Cup, beating Chelsea on penalties in the final at Ashton Gate in Bristol. Also in 2012, for the second consecutive year, the club finished 2nd in the FA WSL and were runners-up in the Continental Cup Final, both to Arsenal. The 2nd-place finish in the league qualified Birmingham for the 2013–14 UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32 for the 2nd season running.
Still competing the UEFA Champions League in 2013/14 season Birmingham qualified for the Quarter Finals for the first time in their history.
In the spring of 2014 Birmingham beat Arsenal 3–0 on aggregate to progress to the Semi Finals of the Champions League and faced Swedish side Tyreso.
Birmingham continued this run in the FAWSL by again almost winning the league for the third time in four seasons.
The 2015 FAWSL season saw a drop of from the previous 4 seasons success, but the team finished 6th.
Honours and achievements
Managerial
Birmingham City Ladies (2011–2017)
FA Women's Super League - Manager of the Year: 2014
UEFA Women's Champions League – Semi Finalists: 2014
Women's FA Cup – Winner (1): 2012
FA Women's Super League – Runners Up (2): 2011, 2012
FA Women's Super League – Top 4 Finish (5): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016
FA WSL Continental Cup – Runners Up (3): 2011, 2012, 2016
Birmingham City Ladies Reserves / Development Squad (2010–2016)
FA Women's Premier League – Reserve League (1): 2010–11
FA Women's Super League Development Cup (1): 2014-15
Managerial statistics
As of 3 Jan 2017
Individual records
FA WSL 1 Manager of the Year - 2014
Longest Serving FA WSL 1 Manager
Record Points Amassed by a Head Coach in FA WSL 1
Led Birmingham City Ladies to the Highest Ranked British Team in Europe (2014, 2015, 2016)