 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
 Phil Parkes at theBoleyn Ground 11 September 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Philip Benjamin Neil Frederick Parkes | ||
| Date of birth | (1950-08-08)8 August 1950 (age 75) | ||
| Place of birth | Sedgley, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1968–1970 | Walsall | 52 | (0) |
| 1970–1979 | Queens Park Rangers | 344 | (0) |
| 1979–1990 | West Ham United | 344 | (0) |
| 1990–1991 | Ipswich Town | 3 | (0) |
| Total | 743 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1972–1975 | England U23[2] | 6 | (0) |
| 1974 | England | 1 | (0) |
| 1978 | England U21 | 1 | (0) |
| 1979 | England B | 1 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Philip Benjamin Neil Frederick Parkes (born 8 August 1950,Sedgley, Staffordshire, England) is a formerfootball goalkeeper.
Phil Parkes grew up in Monument Lane, Sedgley, and was a pupil at nearbyDormston School.
Beginning his football career atWalsall, turning professional in 1968, he made over 50 appearances in theBlack Country before moving to London, signing forQueens Park Rangers for £15,000 in June 1970. His QPR debut was on Saturday 22 August 1970 in a 3–1 defeat at home toLeicester City.
Parkes was part of the QPR team that reached the last eight of theFA Cup in 1974 and were League runners-up toLiverpool in 1976. His club career at QPR spanned 344 league appearances (406 in all competitions). He gained his onlyEnglandcap during this period, againstPortugal in 1974.[3]
Parkes was sold toWest Ham United in 1979 for£565,000, a world record for a goalkeeper at the time. It is reported that Sexton, who by then was manager ofManchester United, put in six bids for the player but saw them all turned down. It was only the half-million-pound bid fromWest Ham United that QPR chairmanJim Gregory could not resist. UponJohn Lyall's signing of Parkes, it was thought that he was a huge risk due to the severity of the condition of his knees, but his signing was to pay off as Parkes was to remain first choice keeper for the next decade. Despite this long spell, most of which was spent in the First Division, he only ever gained one piece of silverware, when West Ham beatArsenal 1–0 to win the1980 FA Cup final.
Parkes appeared as himself inThunderbolt and Smokey! in the boys' comicEagle in 1982, giving a coaching session to a schoolboy striker who was having to play in goal in a cup semi-final due to the regular keeper being injured.
Although Parkes collected just one major trophy during his long playing career, his time atUpton Park saw him come close to picking up honours more than once later on in the 1980s. He was on the losing side in the1981 Football League Cup Final againstLiverpool, the same year that he collected a Second Division title medal as the Hammers returned to the First Division after three years away. In1983–84, the Hammers were in the title race for the first half of the season but fell away to finish ninth - not even enough for aUEFA Cup place. They re-emerged as title challengers in1985–86 and were in the hunt for the title right up to the penultimate game of the season, finally finishing third. He also helped them reach the League Cup semi-finals in1988–89, but it was a disappointing season for the Hammers who were then relegated to the Second Division. Parkes had sat out much of the season, despite new signingAllen McKnight making many mistakes, before Parkes was finally reinstated as first choice. Parkes finished his West Ham career having played exactly the same number of league games for them as he had for QPR – 344.
Parkes is the only footballer ever to have played in excess of 400 matches for two different English league clubs.[4]
In 1990, just before his 40th birthday, he left the Hammers on a free transfer after 11 years and was signed byJohn Lyall, who had just returned to management atIpswich Town, to complete his playing career inSuffolk. He played three league games in1990–91 before finally retiring as a player and moved into coaching.
In 2003, an officialWest Ham United members poll for the greatestWest Ham XI named him as the team's goalkeeper, beatingLudek Miklosko to that position. He is considered by QPR supporters to be one of the three best goalkeepers in the club's history, the others being Reg Allen andDavid Seaman.
Parkes had great ability, and was unfortunate to only ever win one England cap. He would have won a second soon after his first as, during a game againstWales in 1976, the managerDon Revie said Parkes would play the second half, but at half-time with the score still at 0–0 Revie decided to keepRay Clemence on. After the game, Parkes went home and said to his wife he would never make himself available for England again.
West Ham United
Individual
In 2014, Parkes received treatment forDukes stage Abowel cancer.[7]
