What does it say about Fulham and Parker that he has left for Bournemouth?
Scott Parker swapping the riverside for the seaside throws up so many questions beyond the aesthetic changes. Not just for Parker, but for Fulham, too. Fundamentally, his exit raises concerns from Fulhams perspective. It is less that he has decided to leave  he has just, for all intents and purposes, failed to keep a good squad in the Premier League. It is more the nature of his departure. There were the rumbles of discontent, the public comments about structure and planning, and the squad turnover. These could have been interpreted as points for discussion, the head coach laying the groundwork before talks with the clubs top brass on the best way to move forward. But Parkers concerns were all elevated by his decision to join Bournemouth  likely to be one of their direct Championship promotion-chasing rivals when the new season begins in under six weeks. It suggests those concerns were not addressed. On paper, the club to which he has moved is not as well-equipped to win promotion next May as the one hes left. Fulham will have the buttress of first-year parachute payments whereas Bournemouth must deal with the decline in post-Premier League revenue a second year in the Championship brings. Key players will leave the Vitality Stadium this summer  David Brooks and Arnaut Danjuma look like prime candidates. Fulham, meanwhile, still possess the backbone of their 2019-20 promotion-winning team, plus additions such as Antonee Robinson and Tosin Adarabioyo. Parker, it seems, is not stepping up by joining Bournemouth. It can barely be called a sideways step. From a career perspective, it seems an unusual path. Fulham have the financial resources and committed ownership to suggest they can offer a swift ticket back to the Premier League, particularly amid financially weakened competition next season. He can be under no illusions about the challenge at Bournemouth. They make less money in gate receipts and commercial revenue, and their final tranch of parachute payments will come at the end of the 2022-23 season, should they fail to achieve promotion before then. Much will depend on the commitment of secretive owner Maxim Demin and the sale of players in a depleted market. It will not be easy. Fulham wanted Parker to stay and were planning as if he would be at the helm. Yet he still walked away, to an arguably weaker alternative. It is understood Bournemouth will offer Parker more say with regards to recruitment, which is the domain of director of football operations Tony Khan at Craven Cottage. Naturally, Khan is one starting point  Parkers public comments have concerned recruitment and club structure. There had also been public rebukes over the course of last season and as The Athletic has detailed, relations had deteriorated between Parker and the ownership. As has also been highlighted, there is truth to those recruitment concerns. Four years of bouncing between English footballs first and second tiers suggest Fulham are not getting their long-term planning right. They have made 27 loan signings over those four seasons. A good number have proved successful and gone on to join the club permanently (Aleksandar Mitrovic and Harrison Reed are the best examples) but it underlines the notion that their squad turnover is unstable. Reed flourished under Parker after making his loan move permanent (Photo: Ben Stansall  Pool/Getty Images)  This constant recycling makes it difficult for a manager to build a team, which is something Parker seemingly wanted to do, and it also makes it difficult for Fulham to take full advantage of the best young players emerging from their academy. Resolving that seemed to be a key issue at the end of last season, and Parker evidently did not see it happening in a way that would work for him and his team. But there is more to this picture. For one, it is worth pointing out Fulham are getting 50 per cent of it right. Two Premier League promotions in three seasons, even if both were via the play-offs, is impressive  just ask fans of Nottingham Forest, Derby County or Sheffield Wednesday if they would settle for such a track record. In addition, last summers recruitment was widely praised. Fulham still looked light in attack, but good players were signed in defence and midfield, and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola was voted the clubs player of the season. Those transfers played a huge role in making Fulham competitive. But without Areola and the other loanees, Parker would have needed to overhaul the squad. Players from the team that won promotion two seasons ago were sidelined in the Premier League and the way they were overlooked left a few unhappy. Rekindling their motivation for another crack at promotion would have been a tall order. The club have been keen to use those players back in the Championship this time around  perhaps, you could say, to avoid more squad upheaval. In that sense, there is mutual benefit to the exit. There is clearly unhappiness at how Parker has left, and that is not surprising considering how frustratingly drawn out the process has been. Shahid Khans quotes, signed off with a single line of onward, reflect that. But Fulham have still lost a manager who is well-regarded in football circles, which does not reflect well. Parker is often seen as getting an easier ride in the media. His positive interactions with journalists contribute to that, but many beyond the press room hold him in high regard. The one-time football writers Footballer of the Year and England fans player of the year is spoken about positively within the game  Sir Alex Fergusons recent endorsement is an example of that. Most who have played for Parker speak highly of him and the football he has tried to play has drawn plaudits, particularly regarding how Fulham evolved tactically last season as they fought to stay up. It means a relegation on his CV has not been as damaging as it would be for others. It is, then, a loss for Fulham to see him go. But it is certainly not a disaster. The clear winners from this are Bournemouth, who have managed to prise their long-term managerial target away from a club that will be seen as promotion rivals. Parker fits the mould on the south coast and will buy into their approach of buying younger players to develop and then later sell on. Whether Fulham find success from this saga remains to be seen. What will be decisive is the clubs next appointment. That is expected swiftly, and will surely set the course for a more positive trajectory. Right now, though, Fulham have lost 37 days since the season concluded and more than six weeks since relegation was confirmed. The transfer window opened three weeks ago but planning over signings will have been put on hold. The fixtures are out. The players began pre-season this week. From the outside, the situation looks dysfunctional. The Parker saga has been frustrating and the biggest positive for Fulham is probably that it is now over. How they respond to it, and the alarm bells it has set ringing, will determine whether they can achieve their longer-term ambition of Premier League stability. (Top photo: Matthew Childs/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)