Noel Parkinson

Noel David Parkinson (born 16 November 1959) is an English former footballer from Southampton who played in the Football League as a midfielder, beginning his career at Ipswich Town, playing on loan at Bristol Rovers and Brentford and later permanently signing for Mansfield Town, Scunthorpe United and Colchester United. Alongside making over 200 Football League appearances, he also played for England youth between 1976 and 1978.

Career Ipswich Town Born in Blackpool, Parkinson joined Ipswich Town as a trainee in 1976 after taking his A-level exams and went on to make 71 reserve team appearances for the club, scoring 18 goals. He made appearances for England at youth level during the 1976-77 season and the 1977–78 season. He made his first-team debut for Town in the UEFA Cup on 19 September 1979 in a 3–1 win at the Ullevaal Stadion against Skied Oslo, replacing Arnold Mühren after 76 minutes. His only other appearance for the club came in the return leg, a 7–0 thrashing with Parkinson coming on for George Burley in the 55th minute.

While with Ipswich, Parkinson was shipped out on loan on two occasions. The first of these was a month-long stint at Bristol Rovers in November 1979 In a similar loan deal, he was sent out to Brentford in February 1980 He made ten appearances for the Bees in the league. He scored the first of his 13 league goals in a 3–1 away victory at Northampton Town on 29 September 1984.

His career was ended following a double break and dislocation of his pelvis in a game against Wrexham. He later became a car salesman and a managing director for online sales. He was made redundant from this position in 2004 but after investing his redundancy package, he launched the national car-buying website wewillbuyyourcar.com, a site which now turns over in excess of £20 million per year. In 2010, he was featured in the Sunday Times Rich List owing to the success of his company.