Phil Parkes (footballer born 1947)
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- For the former Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United goalkeeper of the same name see here.
| Phil Parkes | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | July 14, 1947 | |
| Place of birth | West Bromwich, England | |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | |
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1962–1964 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1964–1978 1967 1976–1979 1980–1981 1981 1982–1983 1983 |
Wolverhampton Wanderers → Los Angeles Wolves (guest) Vancouver Whitecaps Chicago Sting San Jose Earthquakes Oklahoma City Slickers Toronto Blizzard |
303 (0) 7 (0) 78 (0) 40 (0) 10 (0) - (-) 1 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Phil Parkes (born 14 July 1947 in West Bromwich) is an English former professional football goalkeeper. He was Wolverhampton Wanderers' first-choice keeper for much of the late 1960s and early '70s.
[edit] Career
Parkes joined Wolves in 1962 straight from school and turned professional two years later. After several years in the reserve league, he made his first-team debut on 19 November 1966, saving a penalty in a 3-2 win over Preston North End. For the following nine seasons, Parkes missed few Wolves games and - over the 1971/72 and 1972/73 seasons - appeared in 127 consecutive league matches, breaking Noel George's club record.
The keeper won a UEFA Cup runners-up medal in 1972, after saving two penalties in the semi-final tie with Ferencváros to help the club to the final. However, he missed out on a winners medal in the League Cup, when he got injured in the run-up to the 1974 final, after having played in all the previous rounds.
He traded the goalkeeper's role with Gary Pierce over the next two seasons, until Pierce made the spot his own as Wolves won the Second Division championship in 1976/77. Nonetheless, Parkes stayed on the books at Molineux until 1978.
With opportunities limited at Wolves, the goalkeeper had already begun to play in the North American Soccer League, with the Vancouver Whitecaps in the summers. He served the Canadian club in 1976, 1977 and 1979, the latter seeing him win the Soccer Bowl. He was also voted the league's top goalkeeper for 1977 and 1979, after keeping team mate Bruce Grobbelaar out of the side.
He went on to play the following summer and part of 1981 with the Chicago Sting, before joining the San Jose Earthquakes for the remainder of the 1981 season. Parkes left the NASL to help lead the upstart Oklahoma City Slickers of the American Soccer League to the league finals in the 1982 season, but he left the Slickers in the middle of the 1983 season to return to the NASL with the Toronto Blizzard.
