Phil Parkes

Beginning his football career at Walsall, turning professional in 1968, he made over 50 appearances in the Black Country before moving to London, signing for Queens Park Rangers for £15,000 in June 1970. His QPR debut was on Saturday 22 August 1970 in a 3–1 defeat at home to Leicester City. Parkes was part of the QPR team that reached the last eight of the FA Cup in 1974 and were League runners-up to Liverpool in 1976. His club career at QPR spanned 344 league appearances (406 in all competitions). He gained his only England cap during this period, against Portugal in 1974. Parkes was sold to West 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 of Manchester United, put in six bids for the player but saw them all turned down. It was only the half-million-pound bid from West Ham United that QPR chairman Jim Gregory could not resist. Upon John 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 beat Arsenal 1–0 to win the 1980 FA Cup final. Parkes appeared as himself in Thunderbolt and Smokey! in the boys' comic Eagle in 1982, giving a coaching session to a schoolboy striker who was having to play in goal in a…

Phil Parkes grew up in Monument Lane, Sedgley, and was a pupil at nearby Dormston School.

In 2014, Parkes received treatment for Dukes stage A bowel cancer.

West Ham United

Football League Second Division: 1980–81 FA Cup: 1979–80 Individual

PFA Team of the Year: 1979–80 Second Division, 1980–81 Second Division West Ham United Hammer of the Year: 1980–81