Fulham's Scott Parker faces one of his old sides tonight with the ringing endorsement he will be on the pitch as much as his near 36-year-old legs will allow.
Slavisa Jokanovic offered the equivalent of no-brainer when asked whether the former England international will feature much this season, after being used sparingly in the last.
On top of which, Parker keeps the captain's armband and is set to lead the team out against Newcastle tonight.
It appears Tom Cairney will be skipper in games where Parker doesn't feature from the start, like last week against Crystal Palace.
Parker's extra year on his contract was explained by his boss in unequivocal terms. Below is one of the reasons.
"What I know is Scott Parker is still captain in my team.
"And whether I am going to use him or not we are in a new project here and we try something different from what Fulham tried before, and we believe Tom Cairney can be one of the leaders in this team," he said.
"It is not a problems using Scott Parker or whether a player is 16 or 36.
"It is a question of who can help us or not. We believe Scott Parker is going to help us with the season that is in front of us with his quality, experience and leadership.
"He is a very important part of my squad, at the training ground, outside the training ground and in the games he is very important for the team."
