Big boots to fill there with Vardy going. He will do a decent job at that level with a little man playing off him
I dont that its a bad move for hiom at all. He will score a hatful for them in that league. It is suited to his style of play.
Former cult hero Jon Parkin lifts the lid on his 18 colourful months in Hull City's attack “When I first joined they must have thought ‘What the hell is that we’ve signed?’” Jon Parkin is remembering his first days as a Hull City player after he was plucked from the depths of League Two with Macclesfield Town in January 2006. Not since getting shown the door at Barnsley, his boyhood club, had he played in the second tier and even then appearances had been sporadic. An education had followed at York City before the goals began to flow freely at Macclesfield but Parkin could understand the initial scepticism of City supporters when a £250,000 deal was signed off. Not that it lasted. Four goals in his first six appearances immediately installed Parkin as a crowd favourite and by the time he netted a memorable winner to sink Leeds United, his impact had made all the difference in Peter Taylor’s team securing another season in the Championship. Parkin would move on within 18 months of arriving in East Yorkshire following a bust-up with Phil Brown but a player simply known as the ‘The Beast’ left his mark during a half century of appearances for City. “There’s a lot of things I can’t do in football but the one thing you can always do is work your balls off,” said Parkin. “I’d like to think that every time I put a Hull shirt on, any shirt for that matter, that I’d do that. “Fans can appreciate players that aren’t the best or if they’ve had a bad game so as long as they can see you trying your best. I don’t think they ask for anything more than that.” Parkin is in reflective mood this week. Now 36 and possibly in the final year of a career that has included pit-stops at 13 different clubs, the formidable centre-forward has released a brutally honest autobiography that hits bookshops tomorrow. Detailed in his memoirs are tales of having fish and chips and ‘nookie’ on the afternoon of playing for Barnsley’s reserves as a teenager, while also rolling a golf buggy carrying Stoke team-mate Steve Simonsen ahead of facing Real Madrid in a pre-season friendly. Parkin also reveals how he threatened never to play for Macclesfield ever again in an attempt to force through his move to City 12 years ago. He says that proved to be a launchpad in a career that includes over 600 appearances and 200 goals. “It probably wasn’t the best way to go about things but that’s what I felt I needed to do to get to Hull. Luckily it worked out for me,” said Parkin. “I remember driving to the KC on the Saturday of my debut, Crystal Palace, I didn’t know if I was good enough to play centre-forward in the Championship. “I was a little bit apprehensive. We got beat 2-1 but I managed to score and that took the nerves away. I’ll always have a lot of time for PT (Peter Taylor) for signing me. He tried signing me again when he was at Gillingham but that was too far home that. It was a shame he left that summer when I’d joined in the January.” Taylor’s switch to Crystal Palace in the summer of 2006 ushered in Phil Parkinson and Parkin says it was a spell doomed to fail. “Phil Parkinson came in and he tried to change things too quickly,” he said. “Instead of gradually introducing his ideas, it was bang and ‘this is how it is’. “Players are stubborn, they’re set in their ways. If a player thinks one thing works for them, that’s all they’ll want to do. “He came in and was telling us we’d be having these supplements and doing training like this. “Someone like Nick Barmby, for example. He was a senior player with 400 games in the Premier League. I’m pretty sure he knew what was best for his body.” Parkinson was gone by December, replaced by his assistant Phil Brown, but by the end of 2006-07 Parkin was also headed for Stoke after his City boss questioned the striker’s attitude. “I got on well with Phil Brown to start with but when I went on loan to Stoke and he said what he said, that was it for me,” said Parkin. “One thing I’ve always been, probably to a fault at times, is honest. If something’s not right, I’ll say it. “It didn’t help when Steve Parkin came in. I’d had my run-ins with him at Barnsley and we just didn’t get on.” Parkin was part of a Stoke side that won promotion to the Premier League alongside the Tigers in 2007-08 but a top-flight appearance never came. Unable to convince Tony Pulis he could make the grade at the highest level, he moved on to Preston, Cardiff, Fleetwood, Forest Green, Newport and York City, where he still plays today. “I don’t think I’ve got any regrets,” said Parkin. “I wish I’d never gone in a bookies, that’s a regret. But I don’t think there’s any point having regrets. “I’m just a normal bloke from Barnsley who’s done all right at football. That’s genuinely how I feel. Football has always been my job but it’s never been my life. That’s got its good sides and bad sides. “When it’s 5pm on a Saturday, whether we’ve won, lost or drawn, I’ll forget about football and go home. Would I have been good enough to play in the Premier League? I might have scraped a few games but I don’t think I’d have been quick enough. “But I’ve played football for 20 years. There’s not many of us left who made our debuts in the 90s and are still going. “Top and bottom of it, I’ve had a good time. I really have enjoyed my life.” Jon Parkin: Feed The Beast, RRP £18.99, Sport Media, on sale Thursday 13 September. https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/former-cult-hero-jon-parkin-1998035
That'll be on my Christmas present wish list for sure. I'll even contribute 10 quid knowing my cheap family members !
I love the way he contradicts himself twice in such a short passage: “I don’t think I’ve got any regrets,” said Parkin. “I wish I’d never gone in a bookies, that’s a regret. But I don’t think there’s any point having regrets.
I'll save you and your family some money. A fat ****er who was a better pint drinker, pie eater and piss taker than he ever was a footballer. Then again, I suppose there is the morbid fascination of how he ever got paid to be a professional footballer.
Clearly never saw him play then, was a cracking footballer and as they say "a good touch for a big man"
It's true that he wasted a lot of talent, but he scored some great goals for us and gave us some great memories during that fantastic decade of success we had. Yes he should have been more professional, but those moments are what football's all about and I can't help but like him for being a part of it. Anyway, Wiggo and friends used to spark up a doober before every corner kick.
I did see him play. I also the photograph of him on his arrival for pre season training. Put pies and beer first. Football second. Cracking footballer? He may well of been, 38 stone less
