Samuel "Sam" Parkin (born 14 March 1981 in Roehampton, Greater London) is a English professional footballer who currently plays for Walsall. Parkin is eligible to play for Scotland through his Scottish mother. His best spell as a professional was the three seasons he spent with Swindon Town where he scored 67 goals.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Chelsea

Parkin started his career at Chelsea. However he failed to make the breakthrough and was loaned out to Millwall, Northampton Town, Wycombe Wanderers and Oldham Athletic with varying degrees of success. At Wycombe however, he scored perhaps the most important goal in their history, when he headed in the winner against Wolves during Wycombe's run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, however his loan had finished and he returned to Chelsea denying him a chance to play in the quarter or semi finals.

[edit] Swindon Town

In 2002, Parkin signed for Swindon Town, then in the Second Division. In his three seasons at the County Ground he quickly became one of the most feared goalscorers in the division, scoring 67 goals in 124 league games. He was affectionately nicknamed 'Super Sammy Parkin' by Swindon fans during his time at the club.

[edit] Ipswich Town

In the summer of 2005, he was signed by Ipswich Town on a four year deal for £550,000. Several other clubs, notably Reading, Brighton, and Norwich City had also been interested in signing him. He made his Ipswich debut against Cardiff City and scored on his second game against QPR.

In a relatively poor season, Parkin managed to maintain being Town's top scorer for much of the season despite a fairly small goal return. However, towards the end of the season he broke his ankle and was replaced by Nicky Forster - his intended strike partner at the start of the season and who went on to become top goal scorer. In Ipswich's first game of the new 2006-2007 season season, Parkin did not even make the bench, making him Ipswich's sixth choice striker.

[edit] Luton Town

On 25 August 2006, Parkin was transferred to Luton Town for a fee of £340,000. He managed only ten games before injury struck, and was ruled out for the whole season. Luton were relegated to League One.

Parkin was again badly injured early in the 2007-2008 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 5 goals in 19 league games.

Parkin returned fully recovered in the 2008-2009 season, scoring 3 goals in the first 4 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. On 23 October 2008, Parkin joined League One side Leyton Orient on a three-month loan deal, bringing O's manager Martin Ling's long search for a striker to an end. Following the resignation of Ling, Parkin's loan was terminated, and he returned to Luton on 19 January 2009, having not scored a single goal in his time at Brisbane Road.^[1] Parkin played in 18 further games during the season, including as a substitute in Luton's Football League Trophy final success at Wembley Stadium, but only managed one goal in that time. Luton were relegated for the third successive season, dropping out of the Football League, and on 27 May 2009, Parkin was released by Luton after coming to the end of his contract.^[2]

[edit] Walsall

On 16 July 2009, Parkin signed for League One side Walsall on a one-year contract.^[3]

[edit] International career

Parkin is eligible to play for Scotland through his Scottish mother, and made his Scotland debut in a "future" international against Austria. Unfortunately, he was injured early in the match and was substituted. He has not been picked again and remains eligible to play for England.

[edit] Honours

• 2008–09: Football League Trophy - Luton Town

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Sam Parkin career stats at Soccerbase
• Parkin's profile at lutontown.co.uk