Jonathan Parr has steered clear of the post-playing lull that often follows retirement; he’s thrown himself into a new line of work.
Despite that the ex-Palace defender still made time for the club’s podcast, speaking for over 40 minutes in one of our re-launched episodes.
Following Jason Puncheon as a guest on the Palace Pod, Parr looked back on life in south London to reveal how two figures secured his signature.
“It was a lot of interest [in Parr]. I think maybe that was the spring I had my first game with the national team [2011]. I knew there were a lot of clubs watching and I was really eager to move out
“I didn’t know specifically Palace were watching me but we had a Europa League game with my team, Aalesund, and I knew a lot of teams were watching those games. They’re a good way to see how players compare to different leagues that are a bit more common to them.
“I was called up by Steffen Iversen, who was at the club at the time and is Norwegian as well. We had a little chat and he said: ‘Do you think this could be something for you?’ I was positive and from there it just went pretty quick.
“I had a chat with Dougie, together with my father. We had a good chat and Dougie explained his thoughts for the club and how he saw me and my position. It was a great meeting and made me really want to come over.
“A lot of clubs were interested and I wasn’t 100% sure Crystal Palace was the right club for me until I met Dougie. He’s good at explaining the way he sees football, how he wants to work with the team and his plans for the future.”
When Parr joined he was tasked in training with handling one of the Championship’s most explosive wingers: Wilfried Zaha. A year later and he would have to face Yannick Bolasie, too, as Palace began their bid for promotion to the Premier League.
It was quite the challenge for Palace’s 11/12 Player of the Season: “[Zaha] was amazing. I said at the time, and when I left, and said many times when people ask me about the best player I’ve played with or against I’ve said him. I’ll continue saying that, because his abilities on the ball and one v one offensively is something different. It’s great to see how good a career he has and fun to see how well he’s done at Palace.
“He was tough to handle. Both him and Bolasie had something a bit different; but as a player you want to play with the best and both of them were really good.”
Parr confirmed his retirement at the end of January, saying: “After 429 games spread over 16 seasons with, among other things, national team games, Premier League games and cup finals, I take with me many nice experiences.”
He now enters a different world, but said on the podcast he keeps an eye on Palace today:
“I’ve done some studying my whole career next to the football career. I finished my master’s degree last summer and that was nice to have in place when I was retiring from football to jump into something else.
“It’s been really fun to watch how the club’s progressed since I left. We had a really good run when I was there and it’s kept going strong. It’s been really impressive to see how well they done.”