Thomas Robert Parker (19 November 1897 – 1 November 1987) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and manager. Parker played as a right back for clubs Arsenal and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in his playing career. As a manager he was at the helm of Southampton as well as

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

Playing career

Southampton

Born in

Woolston, Southampton Woolston is a suburb of Southampton, Hampshire, located on the eastern bank of the River Itchen. It is bounded by the River Itchen, Sholing, Peartree Green, Itchen and Weston. The area has a strong maritime and aviation history. The former ...

, Parker began playing with local sides, such as Sholing Rangers and Sholing Athletic , before joining Southern League side

as an amateur in 1918, just before the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In his first season for the Saints, he was playing in the War League and in friendlies, and made a total of 39 appearances, scoring 12 goals, of which 10 were penalties, thus making him the club's second highest scorer behind

Bill Rawlings William Ernest Rawlings (3 January 1896 – 25 September 1972) was an English footballer. A centre-forward, he scored more than 196 goals in 367 league games in a 15-year career. He began his career with Southampton in 1918, who were elevated f ...

. In 1919, after the end of hostilities, professional football restarted and for the next seven seasons he was a virtual ever-present at

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, forming a successful full-back partnership with Fred Titmuss. Parker was described in Holley & Chalk's ''The Alphabet of the Saints'' as "never the fastest of players, he had wonderful positional sense and his tackling was always well-timed". Southampton became founder members of the Third Division for the start of the 1920–21 season and were promoted as champions to the

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 ...

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

. Southampton reached the semi-finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Itali ...

but in the match at Stamford Bridge on 28 March 1925 they were eliminated by

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

when Parker had a dreadful afternoon, first scoring an own-goal, then suffering a rare miss from the penalty spot (shooting straight at the 'keeper) before a mix-up between him and goalkeeper Tommy Allen gave Sheffield their second goal. During his time at Southampton, Parker also won a solitary cap for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

on 21 May 1925. Eventually bigger clubs started making overtures towards Southampton for Parker's services. At first these were resisted, but with money needed to finance the purchase of The Dell, Southampton reluctantly accepted an offer of £3,250 from

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful managers in the early 20th ...

's Arsenal in spring 1926, and he was on his way to

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

. In all he played 275 first-team matches for Southampton, scoring 12 goals (not including his wartime appearances).

Arsenal

Parker made his Arsenal debut against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on 3 April 1926. This was the first match of 172 consecutive first-team matches for Arsenal, a club record that still stands today. Reliable and assured at the back, Parker soon became Arsenal captain, and skippered the club to their first Cup final in the 1926–27 season, which they lost 1–0 to Cardiff City. Parker's luck was better with his next trip to

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 ...

in 1929–30 as Arsenal beat

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 ...

2–0 and Parker became the first Arsenal captain to lift the FA Cup trophy. He then played in Arsenal's 2–1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the Charity Shield at Stamford Bridge in October 1930. Parker went on to captain Arsenal to their

1930–31 Year 193 ( CXCIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sosius and Ericius (or, less frequently, year 946 ''Ab urbe condit ...

Championship triumph, and the 1931–32 Cup final (which they lost 2–1, controversially, to Newcastle United). Throughout all this time Parker was a near ever-present in the side, missing just six league games in seven seasons with the club. However, by 1932 Parker was nearly 35, and at the start of the 1932–33 season he was replaced at right back by George Male. He made his last appearance in an Arsenal shirt on 8 October 1932 against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

, and left the club in 1933 to become manager of

. In total, he played 294 matches for Arsenal, scoring 17 goals (the majority of them being penalties, as he was the club's first-choice taker for much of his career). Despite being an FA Cup and League-winning captain, he never won any further England caps to add to the one he picked up at Southampton, with

Roy Goodall Frederick Roy Goodall (31 December 1902 – 19 January 1982) was a professional footballer, who played for Huddersfield Town for 16 years and played 25 games for England, 12 as captain. Goodall would have captained England in the first ever Wor ...

and Tom Cooper keeping him out of the national side.

Management career

Norwich City

With Parker as manager, Norwich City won the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

in 1933–34 and thus promotion to the Second Division.

Southampton

Parker moved back to his old club Southampton in March 1937, taking over from George Goss who had acted as manager since the previous summer without any real success. On his arrival at The Dell, with money available for new players, Parker set about building a side to push for promotion from Division 2. Over two seasons he spent £9,000 on new players, bringing in wingers Harry Osman and Billy Bevis, goalkeeper Sam Warhurst and centre-half Bill Dodgin. The most important signing, however, was when he signed Ted Bates from his former club Norwich City. Bates was later to go on to transform Southampton into a First Division team. By 1939, Parker had built a settled side but the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

soon intervened and put a halt to competitive football, making all Parker's planning wasted. Parker continued as secretary-manager throughout the difficult initial years of the war, fielding sides made up mostly from guest players. In June 1943, after a row with the Saints' board, he resigned his position to take up employment outside football as a ship's surveyor in Southampton Docks with Lloyd's registry.

Norwich City (second spell)

He later had a second, less successful spell at Norwich in the 1950s which saw the club finish at the bottom of the League.

After management

Parker returned to his job as a ship's surveyor until he retired in 1962. Soon after retirement, he was asked by Ted Bates (who by then was Saints' manager) to take on a part-time scouting role later becoming chief scout, a post he finally relinquished in 1975. He died aged 89 in 1987.

Honours

As a player

Southampton *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

: 1921–22 Arsenal * First Division Championship:

, 1932–33 *

: 1929–30; runner-up: 1926–27 * FA Charity Shield:

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

As a manager

Norwich City * Football League Third Division South: 1933–34

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Tom 1897 births 1987 deaths Footballers from Southampton Association football fullbacks English footballers England international footballers Southern Football League players Southampton F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players English football managers Norwich City F.C. managers Southampton F.C. managers English Football League managers FA Cup Final players