THAT IRELAND TRAVEL to Athens with a Troy on board is, of course, a headline writer’s dream.
The wrinkle is that Troy Parrott has his work cut out to even have the chance to conjure those headlines against Greece on Friday. He has slipped down the pecking order of late, and didn’t make the matchday squad against France in March with Evan Ferguson, Michael Obafemi, and Adam Idah preferred.
Parrott is determined to force his way back into Stephen Kenny’s plans, however, and his work ethic in doing so has been, well, trojan.
“He’s a very dedicated young player, and honest”, gushes Kenny.
Parrott spent last season on loan at Preston from Tottenham, and when the Championship season ended on 8 May, he went back to Spurs for a couple of weeks’ training with their U21s, for whom he also played a game. He then linked up with the Irish squad for the four-day training camp in Bristol at the end of May, and has been part of the squad sweating beneath the harsh Antalya sunlight since last Sunday week. His going back to Spurs for extra work maintains a trend he has committed to around all of Ireland’s end-of-season international windows.
“I did the same last summer, and the summer before”, says Parrott. “They were two good camps for me so I just thought I’d do the same and keep going.”
As a result, he says he feels fitter and sharper today than he did in the March window, when he was recovering from injury. He describes his season-long loan at Preston as one of “ups and downs”, a range of experience accelerated in a single moment last October. Parrott finally scored his first goal for Preston in a win over Norwich but managed to tear his hamstring as he scored it. “I didn’t get to celebrate it”, he tells us with a slight air of resignation.
The injury cost Parrott three months of action. Stephen Kenny talked us through its severity.
“It wasn’t quite off the bone, but he tore it in such a way that he needed to be operated on in the middle of the season. Then he came back to play, most players might not have come back this season with that. His dedication to his rehab is incredible.”
Parrott admits his season at Preston was mixed. When he goes through the totting up process, 32 league appearances – despite that injury lay-off – marks a success, but three leagues goals does not.
“I enjoyed playing, being back in the Championship and competing every week”, says Parrott. “I can’t complain, I played a lot of games. The only down would be the injury and not scoring enough goals but I’ve got confidence that I can do that next season. I’d be worried if I didn’t have the chances, I had plenty of chances to score goals. I think it’s just finding that rhythm and taking the chances.”
When Kenny talks about Parrott’s season, he alights on his role in the team as the reason he didn’t score more.
“He had to adapt his position really at Preston this year. When I went to see him in the last game, for example, they played 3-4-1-2 and he played behind the front two which really brings you into midfield. He’s had to adapt his position and be a complimentary striker so, obviously, if you remember our game against Scotland, when we won last year, we played into him and he links, and links, and links it and Michael [Obafemi] darts in behind. That’s what he has sort of become at Preston: a player to link. He’s outside the box more often and the players he was playing with were scoring goals because he was the first point of the attack really, play into him, touch, hold it, he’s got good feet, he’s got good vision.
“My thing is I don’t want him to become that. He was out of the box too much in playing behind the front two and I think he has the capability of scoring goals, as well as creating goals. If he had another loan spell this year and had a good pre-season, I think he could fire.”
Parrott’s work ethic means that good pre-season should be a guarantee, injuries permitting. The loan spell doesn’t seem quite as much of a banker, however, as Parrott says he wants to prove himself back at Tottenham.
“Definitely”, says Parrott, “I want to play there, so, whatever steps I have to take to get there, I’m willing to do it.”
He has not yet spoken with new Spurs boss Ange Postecoglu, but as a Celtic fan, Parrott knows all about his style of play. “He wants to play good attacking football so we’ll see what happens.”
Parrott spent the second half of last season playing alongside Tom Cannon, the Everton forward who has pulled out of the Irish U21s squad this week to weigh up an offer to play for the English U21s.
“We would like to have him here”, says Parrott of Cannon’s decision. “But if it’s in his interests to go elsewhere then I wish him all the best.”
Cannon’s loss would be a disappointment but nobody has yet portrayed it as a shattering blow, given Ireland’s plethora of young forwards at the moment. Parrott is still just 21, while Adam Idah and Michael Obafemi are 22. Evan Ferguson, meanwhile, is only 18, and such is football’s accelerated lifespan, Parrott finds himself fielding questions as to how Ferguson is coping in a spotlight that has shone on him.
“I’m not too much older than him! So I don’t want to say what he should or shouldn’t do. If I can say something it’s to keep doing what he’s doing as he’s smashing it right now and that can only help us. I’m not a senior! I’m still one of the young lads.”