Parker initially played in the First Division for Luton Town. He made his debut aged 17 against Manchester United in May 1983 and played in the FA Cup semi-final defeat to Everton in 1985 as a 19 year old, before moving to Second Division Hull City, managed by his former Luton captain Brian Horton, the following season. He was a first-team regular at Hull and attracted the attention of Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, who bought him for £260,000 in March 1988. Initially he struggled to make his mark, not debuting for Forest until the end of April 1988, but the following season he became a regular on the left wing and won a League Cup winners' medal with victory over his former club Luton Town. Forest also won the Simod Cup that season with a 4–3 win over Everton, with Parker scoring twice, the second of which involved running half the length of Wembley with the ball at his feet. Other important Cup goals that season came in the League Cup semi-final win over Bristol City and the only goal of Forest's FA Cup quarter-final victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford. Parker was in the Forest team at the Hillsborough disaster and also in the rescheduled semi-final at Old Trafford, which they lost to Liverpool. Forest sold England midfielder Neil Webb to Manchester United in the summer of 1989, and despite buying Ireland international John Sheridan, Parker was moved into his favoured central midfield position for the next season and Sheridan was quickly sold on. He received a second League Cup winners' medal as Forest retained the trophy with victory over Oldham Athletic in 1990, a team that included Parker's former Luton and Hull teammate Frankie Bunn. After two losing FA Cup semi-finals in his career, Parker finally reached the final with Forest in 1991, where they faced Tottenham Hotspur Forest eventually lost the game 2–1 after extra time via a Des Walker own goal. In November 1991, Parker left Forest to join Aston Villa for £650,000. Villa won the League Cup in 1994 and Parker made three appearances during their cup run, but didn't play in the final itself. After falling out of favour with Ron Atkinson he then returned to Division Two football to join Leicester City, winning promotion via the play-offs in his first season. Parker scored Leicester's equaliser in the final against Crystal Palace and was named as Leicester's player of the season. He also played as they won the League Cup in 1997, his third winners medal in the competition. Parker's last game for Leicester was on 30 January 1999 at Middlesbrough.
International career
He played for England at under 21 and B level, and was once put on standby for the senior squad by Graham Taylor in 1992, but never represented his country at full level.
Coaching career
On 1 July 2010, the new Celtic manager Neil Lennon appointed Parker, a former teammate at Leicester City, as a first team coach at Celtic. On 12 October 2014, Parker joined Bolton Wanderers as a first team coach, again working with former Celtic colleagues Neil Lennon and Johan Mjällby. On 14 April 2016, he left his position at Bolton along with Steve Walford following the club's relegation from the Championship. Parker was appointed assistant coach at Hibernian on 8 June 2016, again with Lennon. On 30 January 2019, Parker and Lennon left Hibernian by mutual consent. On 29 August 2019, Parker joined Oxford United as a performance analyst.
