Phil Parkes (footballer born 1947)

:"For the former fc|Queens Park Rangers and fc|West Ham United goalkeeper of the same name see here."Football player infobox2
playername= Phil Parkes


fullname =
nickname = 'Lofty'
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1947|7|14
cityofbirth = West Bromwich
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=4
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears = 1962–1964
youthclubs = Wolverhampton Wanderers
years = 1964–1978
1967
1976–1979
1980–1981
1981
1982–1983
1983
clubs = Wolverhampton Wanderers
→ Los Angeles Wolves (guest)
Vancouver Whitecaps
Chicago Sting
San Jose Earthquakes
Oklahoma City Slickers
Toronto Blizzard
caps(goals) = 303 00(0)
007 00(0)
078 00(0)
040 00(0)
010 00(0)
00 - 00 (-)
001 00(0)

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.

Career

Parkes (nicknamed "Lofty" for his booming kicks upfield) 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 fc|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.