The club announced today that Ben Parker is about to depart for a loan spell at Carlisle United. This comes only four days after he is reported to have had an interesting discussion with Peter Lorimer in the members pavilion on Saturday.

The official line is that Parker is on his way to Cumbria to build up his fitness, having spent the last two-and-a-half years on the sidelines following a series of operations and failed comebacks. He has only made four starts for Leeds since suffering a hip injury against Exeter in August 2009, and has made 41 appearances for the club in total.

Towards the end of the 2008/9 season Parker was the first choice left-back and was tipped for a call-up to the England Under-21 squad, but since then Aidy White has looked a much better long-term prospect, and we do of course have Danny Pugh as another option in that position. But Carlisle boss Greg Abbott is willing to give the 24 year-old an opportunity, as he knows Parker from his days as an academy coach at Elland Road when Parker was playing for the junior teams.

But can it be a co-incidence that Parker is being moved on so soon after his pre-match comments on Saturday? I wasn’t in the Pavillion myself, as I was too busy taking part in the anti-Bates demonstration outside, but I’ve heard accounts of the meeting from several different sources. Supposedly Parker said that Howson didn’t want to leave Leeds but was forced out, contradicting the official line that our captain didn’t sign a new deal because he wanted to play in the Premier League.

As we know, there is zero tolerance of dissidents in the Bates camp. Parker will be out of contract in the summer, and the chances of the club offering another one would appear to be rather slim.

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