My choice at number 10 caused quite a stir when we signed him: little old West Ham, a selling club and feeder club to the big boys, had just paid a world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper! For shock value, it wasn't quite in the same league as the dual "signing" of Tevez and Mascherano, but I was certainly surprised and excited when the announcement was made.
How good was Parkes? Very good. Whilst Rob Green is fortunate to be playing during a lean era for England keepers, Phil Parkes found himself competing with both Shilton and Clemence, two of the very best ever, for an England spot. Shilton set a record of 120 caps for England and Clemence claimed 61 for himself, so it is easy to see why Phil's chances at international level were limited to just the one cap. If he were playing now, he would be Capello's first choice without a shadow of doubt!
It is amazing to think that Parkes won a runners up medal in the old First Division with QPR and finished third in the division with West Ham. Doing that with two such "unfashionable clubs" in the modern era must be a pretty unique record unless the player had the good fortune to play for Brian Clough. It is also amazing in the circumstances of today's game to think that QPR knocked back six bids from Manchester United for Parkes and only agreed to sell when West Ham offered what seemed like an incredible half a million pounds. Just imagine, West Ham outbidding Manchester United for a top quality player! In our dreams!
Parkes was ever present in that glorious season of 1985-86 when we came within touching distance of winning the title. He played a total of 444 games for the club in all competitions, won an FA Cup winners medal in 1980, keeping a clean sheet against the mighty Arsenal, and was in the team that was robbed of victory over Liverpool in the League Cup final by the outrageous failure not to rule out the Liverpool goal after Lee, who was unsighting Parkes and in an offside position, ducked deliberately under the ball on its way into the goal. In those days, that was offside, no question whatsoever!
What made Parkes so good? Well, unlike Green, he exuded a sense of calm and control. I can't remember Parkes ever looking ruffled - he did his job with the absolute minimum of fuss and the defenders in front of him always knew exactly what he would do in any given circumstance. Whereas Green seems to make random decisions on which cross to come for, Parkes seemed to have a set formula, all calculated in advance, from which he rarely, if ever, deviated. Do I remember any individual great saves? Strangely no. Parkes was very agile for such a big guy, but somehow the saves were made to look routine too, rather like Greaves made scoring easy and how Makele made it look so easy to anchor the midfield. That is genius in my book.
Was he as good as I remember? That is hard to say. Keepers in those days were not filmed in every game from every angle so perhaps we were more forgiving because the errors were not replayed over and over again. I well remember how Clemence was criticised after a few goals were conceded by England from direct free kicks so, maybe, I would remember more Parkes errors had every West Ham game been televised as in the modern game. Can anybody remember any Sprake like clangers from Phil Parkes? Or does anybody remember a stand out save? Or was he just Mr Efficiency as I remember him.
One sad footnote - Phil's very last game for West Ham was in the 6-0 defeat in the League Cup semifinal against Oldham. Remember Frankie Bunn? I still have nightmares! I know Strodder started that night, wearing the number 9 shirt, but our defence still featured Alvin Martin, Tony Gale and Julian Dicks. 6-0, to Oldham? Let's move on shall we?
Yes, he was most definitely as good as you remember. He was outstanding in fact. I too, was overjoyed when he came to us as I remember well, that QPR team, he was a big part of their success.
ReplyDeletePersonally? I think he was better than Clemence by a mile and would be just as good today were he thirty(?)years younger.
moorethemerrier
So you've reached number 10 and, finally, found a place for Phil Parkes. Not before time, I was beginning to get a bit twitchy thinking you might not include him.
ReplyDeleteIt's an overworked word these days but Big Phil was truly awesome. The best goalkeeper we've ever had by a country mile.
ps. Shame that you couldn't find room for Budgie Byrne in your top 10.
I'm too young / not old enough to remember him mate.
ReplyDeletecan you believe a girl is reading about football. lol :) i can't help it i love it! i don't rmember hime ither
ReplyDeletemandie reed
Keep lookie in Mandie. The blog can be a little sexist at times but football is a man's game...ooops there I go again! ; }
ReplyDeleteIn the 3rd round of the fa cup in 1980 Parksie made an outstanding save against west brom, pushing the ball onto the post. this kept us in the cup. the rest is history
ReplyDeletetonyboy