Samuel Parkin (born 14 March 1981) is an English former footballer; a radio presenter for BBC Wiltshire, regularly involved with Swindon Town's coverage; and commentator for Chelsea TV. Throughout his career Parkin has played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, ea ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland L ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profes ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an ol ...

, Queen of the South, St Mirren, and most recently

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Le ...

Club career

Chelsea

Parkin started his career at

as a trainee. For first team experience he was loaned out.

Loan spells

Parkin joined

on loan during the 2000–01 season. He scored four goals in seven appearances for the Lions. He then joined

on loan later in the 2000–01 season. At Wycombe, Parkin scored a headed winner against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Ro ...

during their run to the semi finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

. However his loan had finished and he returned to Chelsea denying him a chance to play in the quarter finals versus

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the Nation ...

or semi final v

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. He scored two other goals for Wycombe, including one in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

against Leyton Orient. Parkin also played on loan for

during the 2000–01 season. He scored three goals in seven appearances for the Latics. Parkin joined

on loan during the 2001–02 season. He scored five goals in 46 appearances for the Cobblers.

Swindon Town

In August 2002, Parkin signed for

, then in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. In his three seasons at the County Ground he quickly became one of the most feared goalscorers in the division after scoring a hat trick on his debut at home to Barnsley in a 3–1 victory he went on to score 67 goals in 124 league games for the Robins.

Ipswich Town

In the summer of 2005, Parkin was signed by

on a four-year deal for £550,000. He made his Ipswich debut against

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and scored on his second game against QPR. Parkin was Town's top scorer with five goals in 19 games before on 22 November he incurred his first serious injury when he broke his ankle. He did not play for the first team again until the last day of April. He played two games for Ipswich in August 2006–07 before changing clubs again.

Luton Town

On 25 August 2006, Parkin was transferred to

for a fee of £340,000. He played ten games up to 17 October before serious injury struck a second time ruling out for the rest of the season. Luton were relegated to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. In his comeback Parkin was badly injured in his second game in August in the 2007–08 season but scored on his return to the team in late January. Luton, now in administration, suffered a second successive relegation with Parkin scoring a total of five goals in 19 league games. Parkin returned fully recovered in the 2008–09 season, scoring three goals in the first four league games. However, as a result of financial restructuring at Luton and Parkin being one of the club's highest earners, any offers from other clubs were to be considered.

Leyton Orient

On 23 October 2008, Parkin joined League One side

on a three-month loan deal under O's manager

Martin Ling Martin Ling (born 15 July 1966) is an English football manager and former player currently director of football for Leyton Orient. He played in over 100 Football League matches for each of Exeter City, Southend United, Swindon Town and L ...

. Following the resignation of Ling, Parkin's loan was terminated, and he returned to Luton on 19 January 2009 without scoring in his time at

Brisbane Road Brisbane Road, originally known as Osborne Road, is a football stadium in Brisbane Road, Leyton, East London, England. It has been the home ground of Leyton Orient since 1937, before which it was the home of amateur football team Leyton F.C., ...

. Parkin played in 18 further Luton games during the season, including as a substitute in Luton's

final success at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, scoring one goal in that time. Luton were relegated for the third successive season, dropping out of

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, and on 27 May 2009, Parkin was released by Luton after coming to the end of his contract.

Walsall

On 16 July 2009, Parkin signed a one-year contract with

. He scored three goals in 27 appearances for The Saddlers.

St Johnstone

On 15 July 2010 Parkin signed for Scottish Premier League side

on a two-year contract. Parkin scored five goals for St Johnstone before suffering a broken ankle in February 2011. He only made two substitute appearances for Saints in the 2011–12 season before he was released from his contract by mutual consent in January 2012.

Queen of the South

On 24 January 2012 Parkin signed for Dumfries club Queen of the South until the end of the 2011–12 season. Parkin scored two goals on his debut in a 2–1 victory over

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

St Mirren

Parkin signed a one-year deal with St Mirren on 7 June 2012. Parkin scored his first goal for the club against Dundee on 13 August 2012.

Exeter City

On 9 July 2013, Parkin completed a move to

on a free transfer. Parkin scored on his debut in a 2–1 win against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

on 3 August 2013. Parkin was released by the club on 8 May 2014 after scoring three goals in 29 appearances at

St James Park St James Park and variants may refer to: Municipalities * St James Park, New Zealand, a suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand Football stadiums * St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * St James Park (Exeter), Exeter, England * St James Park, g ...

International career

Parkin was eligible to play for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

through his Scottish mother. He made his Scotland debut in a Scotland Future international against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. He was injured early in the match and was substituted.

Media career

Sam Parkin is one of 3 former professional footballers, who host a podcast called ''Hanging Up The Boots (HUTB)''. The podcast features a special guest every episode. Parkin has presented for BBC Radio Wiltshire and has provided media content for his former clubs Swindon Town and Chelsea. More recently he is to be heard regularly on BBC Radio London as a co-commentator, on the podcast The Totally Football League Show, and seen as a TV pundit on the free-to-air EFL round-up show on the itv channel.

Career statistics

Honours

;Luton Town *

: 2008–09 ;St Mirren *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

;Individual *

Player of the Year: 2002–03, 2004–05 *

Football League One Player of the Month The EFL League One Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League One, the third tier of English football. Originally named the Football League One Pla ...

: February 2005 *

Goal of the Season: 2005–06 *Swindon Town Hall of Fame: Inducted 2017

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parkin, Sam 1982 births Footballers from Roehampton Living people Anglo-Scots English footballers English people of Scottish descent Scotland B international footballers Chelsea F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players English Football League players Walsall F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Association football forwards Scottish Football League players