Parker believes Beale was right to reject Wolves to stay at QPR

Michael Beale should have no regrets about turning down the Wolves job and can vindicate his decision by steering QPR to promotion, believes Paul Parker.

Beale rejected the chance to replace Bruno Lage at Molineux last month with his Rs side flying high in the Championship table.

The 42-year-old arrived at Loftus Road after working under Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa and Rangers and is a fluent Portuguese speaker following his time spent coaching Brazilian club Sau Paulo.

Wolves’ raft of Portuguese players, coupled with Beale’s red-hot start to life in the West London dugout, made him the obvious candidate to make the step up but the Rs boss opted to stick with his side at the top of the Championship table.

And former QPR defender Parker, who played 125 games for the club before a big money move to Manchester United after the 1990 World Cup, insists he made the right decision despite his side suffering back-to-back away defeats at Luton and Birmingham.

The 58-year-old said: “I would have been surprised if he had left and I would have been disappointed.

“I would have been surprised that he would put himself in that position, to go and walk into Wolves at this moment in time.

“I think it would have been wrong for him.

“But then there is always that talk of when you are in that situation, can you afford to turn down a job like that?

“If he has got enough belief in his own ability, then he is going to turn around and say no.

“What everyone has said about him since has arrived, and where he has been to learn about coaching and picking up different languages, suggested to me that he has got belief in his ability and that he is a workaholic.

“But to go and put it all into Wolves would have been a difficult one for him, especially because of the way they are and the way they are managed as a club.

“I thought that he made the right decision not to go and do that.

“He is better staying at QPR, who are a big side in that division - everybody wants to beat Queens Park Rangers in that division.

Parker was speaking ahead of Channel 4 documentary ‘Italia 90: When Football Changed Forever’, which aired its first episode on Monday night and sees Parker feature alongside fellow England stars Stuart Pearce, Paul Gascoigne, John Barnes, Peter Shilton and Steve Bull.

England’s run to the semi-finals – where they suffered penalty heartbreak against Germany – still holds a storied status in Three Lions folklore.

And Parker, who played an unfortunate role in the Germans’ opener before providing the assist for Gary Lineker’s leveller, is thrilled to help shine a light on the tournament over three decades on.

He added: “I’m involved in something that goes on and on and on.

“To see people still talking so passionately about Italia 90 32 years on is just something I never anticipated.

“I thought it would have been done when we got home, and the new season started, usually people move on.

“But you know, it just hasn’t, it hasn’t been allowed to die.”

Italia 90: When Football Changed Forever. Broadcasting on Channel 4 at 9 pm on Monday 31st October, includes interviews with Paul Parker, Stuart Pearce, Paul Gascoigne, John Barnes, Peter Shilton and Steve Bull #Italia90 https://www.channel4.com/