Phil Parkes was born on 8th August 1950, in Sedgley, Staffordshire. Beginning his football career at Walsall, for whom he made nearly 100 appearances
Phil Parkes was born on 8th August 1950, in Sedgley, Staffordshire. Beginning his football career at Walsall, for whom he made nearly 100 appearances, he signed for Queens Park Rangers for £15,000 in June 1970. Phil was part of the QPR team that reached the last eight of the FA Cup in 1974 and were League runners-up to Liverpool in 1976, a side many observers consider the finest team never to have won the League. His career at QPR spanned 344 league appearances (406 in all competitions). He was then sold to West Ham United in 1979 for £500,000– a world record for a goalkeeper at the time and was to remain Hammers’ number one for the next ten years. Yet despite his awesome ability, he only ever gained one piece of silverware, when West Ham beat Arsenal 1-0 to win the 1980 FA Cup Final. He left to join Ipswich Town Football Club in 1989 before moving into coaching.
In 2003, an official West Ham United members’ poll for the greatest West Ham XI named him as the team's goalkeeper. He is also considered by QPR supporters to be one of the two best goalkeepers in the club’s history, the other being David Seaman. He gained his only England cap against Portugal in 1974.
