Parker Dick Image 1 Coventry City 1920

Description

Stockton, County Durham born centre forward Dick Parker played in north east junior football for Norton United, Thornaby Corinthians, South Bank and Stockton prior to the First World War, during which he served in The Northumberland Fusiliers, but after peacetime football resumed he joined First Division Sunderland in June 1919 making his Football League debut against Aston Villa that August, scoring in the return fixture at Villa Park a week later and also against Chelsea in a 3-0 win at Roker Park.

His spell at Sunderland was brought to a close in January 1920 after 6 appearances when he joined Second Division club Coventry City for £1,500, for whom he scored 11 goals in 26 matches before a return to the North East in October 1920 when he was transferred to South Shields for £1,000. He scored a hat-trick on his debut at home to Port Vale but managed only 2 more goals in 9 further appearances and was released in 1921 to join North Eastern League club Wallsend in September 1921, but he returned to Football League action in July 1922 when he moved south to join Third Division (South) club Queen’s Park Rangers. He was the club’s top scorer in each of his two seasons at Loftus Road, scoring 34 goals in 66 appearances before Millwall signed him for “a substantial fee” in July 1924.

His three years at Millwall, where he was described as “a strong, forceful player and a consistent goal getter”, reached a crescendo in 1926-27 when they narrowly missed out on promotion as Parker’s 37 goals fired them into 3rd place, he scored 5 times against Norwich City, still a Millwall record, and also bagged hat-tricks against Aberdare, Swindon and Crystal Palace. Another hat-trick at Palace in October 1927 pre-empted a £1,100 transfer to Watford in November 1927 after 66 goals in 98 games for The Lions, but after 3 goals in 14 appearances for Watford during the remainder of 1927-28 he was released and joined Merthyr Town the following summer without making their first eleven. He subsequently joined Kent League club Tunbridge Wells Rangers in 1929 before his eventual retirement.

NB although definitively identified as Parker in this photograph, the photo comparison to his other images casts some doubt and this could well be a mis-identification albeit it could indeed be Parker.