Born in Sutton-in-Ashfield, he started his career with Leicester City. He had four loan spells with Burton Albion and one each with Yeovil Town and Bristol Rovers. He moved to Bristol Rovers permanently in 2012 where he won two promotions and was named as the club's Player of the Year and was included in the Conference Team of the Year for the 2014–15 season. He left in 2016 for Leyton Orient and then spent two seasons with Carlisle United. He moved to Exeter City in 2019. He spent two years with Exeter and moved to Scottish side Livingston in 2021. After three seasons with Livingston, he returned to England, signing with Hartlepool United in 2024.
Club career
Leicester City
Parkes with Leicester City in 2010
Born in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire,[2] Parkes started his career at Leicester City where he is a product of their youth academy. Parkes' first involvement with Leicester's first team came when he was named as an unused substitute as Leicester beat Swansea City 2–1 at the Walkers Stadium in the third round of the FA Cup.[3]
Loan spells
On 22 January 2010 Parkes joined Burton Albion on a one-month loan deal to help ease their injury crisis,[4] making his debut the following day, playing the full 90 minutes of Burton's 2–3 come back win away at Torquay United.[5] On 30 January, Parkes agreed to extend his loan at Burton until the end of the 2009–10 season.[6]
Parkes joined Burton Albion on a sixth month loan deal at the start of the 2011–12 season. However this came to a premature end after only three league games after Parkes suffered a broken ankle.[9] He made his return by being named on the bench on 14 January 2012 in a match against Plymouth Argyle.
Following the end of his loan at Burton Albion, Parkes was an unused substitute for Leicester's 2–0 victory over Swindon Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup. A few days later, Parkes joined up with fellow Leicester loanee Cian Bolger, at Bristol Rovers on an initial month-long loan deal. Parkes made his debut against Morecambe on 11 February, re-uniting his academy defensive partnership with Bolger. On 21 April, he was sent off for a dangerous two footed challenge on Port Vale's Chris Shuker; opposition manager Micky Adams defended Parkes, saying that in his experience "the boy is not that type of player".[10]
Bristol Rovers
Tom Parkes joined Bristol Rovers for an undisclosed fee on 20 August 2012.[11] He made his debut on 21 August 2012 in a 1–1 draw against Barnet, playing the full 90 minutes.[12] On 18 September 2012, he scored his first goal for in a Rovers shirt in away match against west country rivals Plymouth Argyle.[13]
On 20 November 2012, he suffered a fractured ankle in a 4–0 loss away at Port Vale at Vale Park and returned to action on 1 December 2012 in the 2–0 loss to Wycombe.
When John Ward was appointed manager in December 2012, Parkes was awarded the captain's armband and picked up the League Two Player of the Month award for February 2013.[14]
In September 2013, Parkes agreed a contract extension at Rovers to keep him at the club until 2016.[15]That season would end in disappointment for Parks and Rovers as the club were relegated out of the Football League for the first time since their election in 1920.[16]
Parkes remained with Rovers for their first campaign in the Conference Premier as Darrell Clarke guided the side to a second place finish in the league, missing out on automatic promotion by just one point. They would however go on to seal promotion at Wembley Stadium, beating Grimsby Town in the 2015 Conference Premier play-off final.[17] Parkes made 51 appearances in all competitions during the season, the most of any player at the club, and was named Bristol Rovers' Player of the Year at the end of the campaign.[18]
The 2015–16 season saw Parkes struggle to hold down a regular place in the side as Mark McChrystal and Tom Lockyer were generally favoured in the centre back positions. Rovers went on to secure back-to-back promotions to League One following a 92nd minute winning goal from Lee Brown.[19] Parkes, along with the rest of Rovers' senior players, was offered a new deal at the club.[20] He elected to bring his time at Rovers to an end though, deciding to join Leyton Orient[21]
Carlisle United
He was offered a new contract by Carlisle at the end of the 2018–19 season.[22]
Exeter City
On 27 May 2019, Parkes joined Exeter City.[23] In August 2019 he received a three-match ban for violent conduct.[24] He scored his first goal for the club in the 4–0 win against local rivals Plymouth Argyle.[25]
On 12 May 2021 it was announced that he would leave Exeter at the end of the season, following the expiry of his contract.[26]
Livingston
On 3 June 2021, Parkes agreed to join Livingston following the expiration of his Exeter contract, signing a one-year contract with the potential to rise to three years.[27] Parkes scored one minute into his competitive debut for the club, when he opened the scoring in an eventual 3–0 victory over Brechin City.[28]
On 8 January 2024, Parkes signed for National League club Hartlepool United.[29] He made his Hartlepool debut the following day as a half-time substitute in a 2–1 defeat to AFC Fylde.[30] Early in his Hartlepool career he formed a strong partnership with Luke Waterfall in central defence.[31] On 6 April, Parkes scored his first Hartlepool goal in a 2–0 home win against Aldershot Town.[31] At the end of the season, Hartlepool took the option to extend his contract.[32] On 30 November, Parkes made his 500th career appearance in a 0–0 home draw with Barnet.[33]
