Philip John "Phil" Parkinson (born 1 December 1967) is an English football manager and former player who currently manages Bradford City.
[edit] Playing career
Parkinson, a former Southampton trainee,[1] made his Football League debut in 1988 with Bury, and later joined Reading for £50,000 in July 1992.[2]
[edit] Reading
A fearsome tackler who always led by example, he was named player of the season two years in a row (1997–98 and 1998–99) and was also a key member of the 1993–94 Football League Second Division championship-winning team. He captained the team to promotion from the Second Division in 2001–02 and soon after promotion success, Parkinson celebrated his testimonial year with a memorable night at Madejski Stadium, where 20,000 fans watched former Reading team-mates such as Shaka Hislop, Michael Gilkes and Jeff Hopkins take on an England XI including the likes of Paul Gascoigne, John Barnes and Chris Waddle.[citation needed]
Although Parkinson rarely featured on the field in his final season as Reading returned to the First Division, he remained a hugely respected member of the squad until his departure to Layer Road.
In a vote to compile the Royals' best-ever eleven, Parkinson was voted the best central midfielder with 60.3% of the vote.[3] Parkinson is still sung about in the terraces today (his song, "Five Parkinsons", is sung every Christmas).[citation needed]
[edit] Management career
[edit] Colchester United
Parkinson left Reading early in 2003 after 11 seasons to take his first steps into the world of management with Colchester United. Despite showing promising signs as he steered the U's to safety upon arrival in February 2003, the 2003–04 season started poorly as Colchester slipped to three straight league defeats, only softened by a victory in the League Cup. The U's' supremo, however, continued to motivate as they surged up the table, looking like play-off contenders at one stage. They may have slipped down towards the end of the season, but a strong FA Cup run, LDV run and a good finish left optimism for U's supporters.
The 2005–06 season saw them finish in 2nd place, thereby gaining an unlikely promotion to the Championship – despite having the lowest average attendance of the division. However, he resigned in June 2006 with a year left to run on his contract.[4]
[edit] Hull City
Parkinson was confirmed as the new manager of Hull City in late June 2006,[5] following the departure of Peter Taylor. Hull agreed to pay Colchester £400,000 compensation. However, when he led Hull against his old club, he was embarrassed as his former club romped home 5–1.[6] After another defeat in the next match at home to Southampton 4–2, he left by "mutual consent" in early December, leaving Hull in the relegation zone.[7]
[edit] Charlton Athletic
Parkinson then joined Charlton Athletic in January 2007 as assistant manager to Alan Pardew, having previously worked together at Reading. He was close to a return to management with Huddersfield Town in April 2007, but made a last minute decision to remain with Charlton.[8] Parkinson later extended his contract with Charlton until 2010.[9] Following Alan Pardew's departure in November 2008, he was appointed caretaker manager[10] and given the job permanently on New Year's Eve 2008 despite failing to win any of his eight matches in caretaker charge.[11] Under his management, Charlton were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time in nearly 30 years.
In League One, Charlton started off very well winning their first six league matches, but that run was brought to an end after a 1–1 draw at home to Southampton, Parkinson's ex manager Alan Pardew's side. Charlton continued to do well and were in the top two until the new year where Norwich overtook them and they then never returned to the top two, finishing fourth in the league. In the play-offs, they had to play Swindon Town over the two legs and lost the first one 2–1 at the County Ground. But in the second they turned it around and led 2–0 but Swindon fought back and it finished 3–3 on aggregate. Swindon then continued and won on penalties 5–4 to condemn Parkinson and his men to another season in League One. But having not won a league game since November, Parkinson was sacked on 4 January 2011, the day after his side's 4–2 loss at home to Swindon Town.[12][13]
[edit] Bradford City
Parkinson was appointed manager of Bradford City on 28 August 2011.[14] Parkinson has since won the Npower League 2 manager of the month for December 2011 after impressive victories over promotion candidates Southend United, Shrewsbury Town and Crewe Alexandra. Parkinson also enjoyed a promising run in the Johnstones Paint Trophy with the Bantams taking them to the Northern division semi-finals with impressive victories over Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United as well as away triumph over fierce local rivals Hudderfield Town on penalties, this before defeat at the hands of Oldham Athletic.
[edit] Honours
[edit] As a manager
- Colchester United
Football League Two Manager Of the Month - December 2011
[edit] Managerial statistics
| Team |
Nat |
From |
To |
Record |
| P |
W |
D |
L |
Win % |
| Colchester United |
 |
25 February 2003 |
14 June 2006 |
187 |
79 |
54 |
54 |
42.25 |
| Hull City |
|
29 June 2006 |
4 December 2006 |
24 |
5 |
6 |
13 |
20.83 |
| Charlton Athletic |
|
22 November 2008 |
4 January 2011 |
114 |
44 |
37 |
33 |
38.6 |
| Bradford City |
|
28 August 2011 |
Current |
32 |
8 |
13 |
11 |
25 |
| Total |
357 |
136 |
110 |
111 |
38.1 |
- As of 25 February 2012
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Parkinson, Phil |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
Football manager |
| Date of birth |
1 December 1967 |
| Place of birth |
Chorley, Lancashire |
| Date of death |
|
| Place of death |
|
