Timothy John Parkin (born 31 December 1957) is an English former footballer. A defender, he made 422 league appearances in a 14-year career in the English Football League, and also spent two years playing in Sweden.
Parkin left Malmö Stadion and returned to England in August 1981 with Bristol Rovers, though had to spend a day as an Almondsbury Greenway player to get around rules governing Swedish transfers.[3] The "Pirates" finished 15th in the Third Division in 1981–82 under the stewardship of manager Bobby Gould. The "Gas" rose to seventh in 1982–83, before David Williams was put in charge. He led the club to fifth and sixth place finishes in 1983–84 and 1984–85. Bobby Gould was then re-appointed as manager but could only lead Rovers to a 16th-place finish in 1985–86. In five years at Eastville Stadium, Parkin played 206 league games and was named the club's Player of the Year for 1985 and 1986.
He was signed by Port Vale for £60,000 in December 1989.[1] Manager John Rudge used him only 12 times in the Second Division in 1989–90.[1] He became a regular in the first-team from October 1990, and played 32 times in 1990–91.[1] However, he lost his place in August 1991 and was loaned out to Shrewsbury Town the next month, featuring in five Third Division games for John Bond's "Shrews" at the Gay Meadow. He returned to Vale Park the next month only to be handed a free transfer in May 1992, having played just eight games for the "Valiants" in the 1991–92 relegation campaign.[1]
Darlington
He moved onto Darlington, where he was made player-coach. The "Quakers" finished 15th in the Third Division in 1992–93. Parkin took caretaker control of the team in October 1993 (with Gerry Forrest) when Billy McEwan was dismissed; Forrest and Parkin took charge of the first-team for four matches before Alan Murray took over permanently.[5] Murray could only take the club to one place above the bottom of the English Football League in 1993–94. Parkin departed Feethams and moved on to Barrow of the Northern Premier League in November 1993, where he was made player-assistant manager, before retiring as a player following a broken leg.