Not Ready? Troy Parrott Keeps Answering Mourinho One Match-Winner at a Time

Some careers take the motorway. Troy Parrott's has taken the scenic route — and this week, the view has been breathtaking. As reported in The Guardian's Football Daily, the Republic of Ireland striker has barely unpacked his bags at Real Betis, yet he has already delivered the kind of week strikers script in their dreams. First, he popped up to sink Real Madrid and ruin the afternoon of José Mourinho, his former manager at Tottenham. Four days later, he did it again, marking his Champions League debut at Lille with another decisive strike. Two games, two goals, two match-winners. The subplot is irresistible. It was Mourinho who handed a teenage Parrott his Premier League debut in December 2019, throwing him on during a 5-0 win over Burnley. It was also Mourinho who promptly decided the youngster needed considerably longer in the oven, delivering the classic 'not ready' verdict that has shadowed Parrott through years of loans and patient rebuilding. Now, every decisive goal doubles as a reply. For Ireland supporters, the timing is mouth-watering. With the World Cup 2026 landscape taking shape, a centre-forward scoring winning goals against elite European opposition is precisely the currency international football rewards. If Parrott sustains this form, Ireland's attacking conversation suddenly sounds very different — and defenders across the tournament cycle have a new problem to scout. Elsewhere in the Football Daily mailbag, readers served up a Victorian-era gem. Everyone knows Arbroath's 36-0 Scottish Cup demolition of Bon Accord in 1885 — but fewer know that, 18 miles away on the same afternoon, rivals Dundee Harp beat Aberdeen Rovers 35-0, prompting a telegram exchange in which each club assumed the other was winding them up. Bon Accord arrived with nine players and no goalkeeper; two spectators made up the numbers, and Arbroath's keeper reportedly spent the entire match under the friendly shelter of an umbrella without touching the ball. Seven Arbroath goals were disallowed, and the Scottish Cup qualification rules were hastily rewritten the following season. Finally, one reader's verdict on Real Madrid's chaotic Champions League clash with Inter landed squarely. Two seasons on from losing Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, Madrid still lack a midfielder who can control the tempo — yet spent £115m on another left-sided attacker. Leading 2-0 at home, they still couldn't keep the ball. As the late, great Johan Cruyff put it: 'As long as we've got the ball, they're never going to score.'