Derek Parkin (born 2 January 1948) is an English former football player who made a record number of appearances for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

(609). He also played for

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

and Stoke City as well as the England under-23 national side

Career

Parkin made his Football League debut on 7 November 1964 for

against Bury, aged 16. In February 1968, he became at the time the most expensive full-back in Britain when he joined First Division side Wolves for £80,000. He made his club debut on 24 February 1968 against his hometown side Newcastle United. Over 14 years at Molineux, he made a record number of senior appearances – 609, including 501 league games, also a club record. He played 50 or more competitive matches in a season for Wolves no fewer than five times – another record – and in seasons 1968–69 and 1969–70, he took part in every single league and cup match played by the club. His long service saw him receive a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

in 1979 and become one of the initial inductees into the club's Hall of Fame. He appeared in two

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

Cup Finals, collecting a winner's medal each time as Wolves won the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

in both 1974 and 1980, and also earned a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

championship medal in 1976–77. Parkin ended his 15-season spell at Wolves by joining Stoke City on a free transfer in March 1982. He played ten matches for Stoke in 1981–82 and the played in 35 matches in 1982–83 before retiring from playing football. After his footballing career ended in May 1983, he moved into landscape gardening. He has also been involved in charity work in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

International career

The full-back made five appearances for the England U23 side between 1969 and 1971. He was called up to the full team in 1971 for a European Championship qualifier in Malta, but did not appear in the match.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup,

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. It wa ...

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

and

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

Honours

; Wolverhampton Wanderers *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

champions: 1976–77 * Football League Cup winner: 1974, 1980 *

winner: 1970–71

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parkin, Derek 1948 births Living people English footballers England under-23 international footballers Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne English Football League players Association football defenders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League representative players