Colin Parry, born 16 February 1941, Stockport, England.
PART ONE
Colin Parry signed with Stockport County as a part-time professional in August 1962. His debut arrived in November 1962 when Ken Hodder was injured, and Parry was called into the side for a Fourth Division visit to Hartlepool United, but the occasion brought none of the gentle encouragement that an inexperienced defender might have wanted because Stockport suffered a 3–0 defeat and he was introduced to League football on a difficult afternoon away from home. That result did not settle his future one way or the other, for one hard match could neither prove nor dismiss a young centre-half, but his opportunities during the rest of 1962–63 remained limited as County tried to find stability in a side which was operating near the bottom end of the Football League and could offer little protection to anybody learning his position.
Parry had to wait, train and continue his part-time working life while preparing himself whenever he was needed, and his patience became important because change was coming to the heart of the Stockport defence as Hodder and Bob Murray approached the end of their playing days. Their departure gradually opened the way for the local recruit, who established himself more securely during the 1963–64 campaign and began to show that he possessed the temperament required for week-after-week Fourth Division football, where pitches could be heavy, centre-forwards were powerful and points were often decided by which defence dealt best with crosses, bouncing balls and crowded penalty areas. He was dependable rather than spectacular, but dependability was precisely what Stockport required, and his growing understanding with defenders such as full-back Graham Ricketts gave the side a firmer base.
By 1964–65, Parry was no longer merely the part-time newcomer waiting behind older men, for he had become an established member of the Stockport defence, and that season carried him into the most notable FA Cup run of his years at Edgeley Park. County progressed to the fourth round and were drawn away to Liverpool, who stood among the strongest sides in the country under Bill Shankly, so the visit to Anfield on 30 January 1965 appeared a severe examination for a Fourth Division team and especially for defenders who would be expected to spend much of the afternoon resisting pressure.
Stockport refused to be overwhelmed and earned a 1–1 draw before a crowd of more than 51,000, with Parry holding his place at centre-half as County forced the First Division club into a replay, and the result gave their supporters a day to remember even though the tie had not yet been won. Liverpool came to Edgeley Park on 3 February and prevailed 2–0, then continued through the competition before beating Leeds United in the Wembley final, but Stockport had made the eventual cup winners work over two matches and Parry had stood in the middle of the defence throughout the contest. It was an important measure of how far he had advanced since the defeat at Hartlepool, because he had moved from an uncertain first appearance to facing one of England’s best attacks in a major cup tie, and he did so without abandoning the plain defensive qualities that had first attracted County’s attention.
Parry’s position became less settled during the early weeks of 1965–66, and on 3 September 1965 he moved to Bradford City on a short loan intended to give him competitive football while providing the Yorkshire club with additional defensive cover. Bradford were also in the Fourth Division and were enduring a difficult period, so this was not a move into calmer surroundings, but it allowed the 24-year-old to remain in League action and demonstrate that he could fit quickly into an unfamiliar defence.
His Bradford City debut came against Darlington at Felthams on 25 September and ended in a 3–0 defeat, which meant that his first appearance for a second Football League club brought another testing away afternoon, yet he retained his place and four more League outings followed during a spell lasting little more than a month. Among those matches was a 2–0 victory over Lincoln City at Valley Parade on 2 October, while his final appearance came three days later when the Bantams succumbed to a 3–2 defeat at the hands of Halifax Town at The Shay, and although five games without a goal left little statistical mark, scoring was never the reason he had been borrowed. He had been sent there to defend, compete and maintain his match sharpness, and once the loan ended on 5 October he returned to Stockport ready to fight for his place rather than drift away from the side. The temporary absence therefore proved to be an interruption rather than a parting, and Parry soon worked his way back into County’s first-team plans during the remaining months of the season.
His return placed him back in a Stockport team which was beginning to strengthen, and during 1965–66 he made a substantial contribution as County improved their position and also won the Cheshire Senior Cup, giving Parry a medal from the county competition in which local standing carried genuine importance. Yet the club’s ambitions were rising, and as new players arrived the competition around him became sharper, with experienced defenders Matt Woods and Eddie Stuart among those brought in to improve a side that intended to escape the Fourth Division. Parry had already proved that he belonged at League level, but football rarely rewards a man simply because he has served well in previous seasons, and during the 1966–67 championship campaign his involvement was reduced to only two first-team appearances.
Stockport, managed by Jimmy Meadows, won the Fourth Division title and secured promotion, but Parry largely watched from outside the selected eleven as others occupied the defensive places, which must have made the success personally mixed even though he remained part of his hometown club. There was no public drama and no suggestion that he allowed disappointment to weaken his work, for he stayed, trained and waited again, just as he had done after first signing in 1962, and the following season brought a partial return when he made 21 appearances in the Third Division. Those outings showed that he could still answer when required, but they also indicated that he was no longer likely to regain the uninterrupted place he had held earlier in the decade.
PART TWO
By the summer of 1968, Parry had completed six seasons with Stockport County and had made 133 Football League appearances, while his total in all competitions reached 148, all without a goal, a figure which suited a centre-half whose value lay in prevention rather than finishing. At 27 he still had plenty of football left in him, but remaining at Edgeley Park offered no guarantee of regular selection, so in July he moved the short distance to Rochdale and joined another Fourth Division club preparing for the 1968–69 season. Rochdale had spent every completed Football League campaign since entering the competition in 1921 in its lowest available division, and no manager had yet succeeded in taking the club upward, but Parry arrived in a squad which contained enough determination and balance to challenge that long record.
Bob Stokoe began the season in charge before leaving for Carlisle United in October, after which Len Richley took over, and the managerial alteration could easily have disturbed a promotion attempt that was still taking shape. Instead, Rochdale continued to gather points, while Parry settled immediately into the centre of the defence and missed only one League match throughout the campaign, giving the side continuity at the very place where repeated changes can cause the greatest damage. Alongside men such as Derek Ryder, he dealt with the direct football common to the Fourth Division, and behind a hardworking midfield he provided the firmness from which Rochdale’s forwards could attack with confidence.
The importance of that defence became clearer as 1968–69 developed, for Rochdale were not relying solely on a burst of goals or a brief unbeaten spell but were constructing a challenge strong enough to survive the strains of a 46-match League programme. Parry’s contribution could not be measured through goals because he remained almost entirely devoted to his work at the other end, yet a side that conceded only 35 League goals across the season was plainly receiving consistent service from its centre-half, and he gave Richley the same steady presence whether the match was at Spotland or on one of the less forgiving away grounds.
Rochdale remained among the leading sides as spring approached, but promotion still had to be secured and the final match against Southend United at Spotland carried the full weight of more than four decades without elevation. Parry played as Rochdale won 3–0 and completed the season in third place, taking the club into the Third Division for the first time, and the achievement was greater than the bare position suggested because it broke a pattern which had existed since Rochdale’s admission to the League. He had arrived only the previous summer after becoming a fringe player at Stockport, but within a year he had played almost every match in a promotion side whose defensive record was among the foundations of its success, so the transfer that gave him regular football also placed him at the centre of one of Rochdale’s most important seasons.
Promotion brought different problems in 1969–70 because Rochdale were no longer meeting familiar Fourth Division opponents and had to prove that their rise could be sustained against stronger, quicker and better-equipped sides, but Parry’s game was built on qualities which did not disappear when the standard increased. He remained an important part of the team as Rochdale adjusted to the Third Division, and their survival was achieved with considerably more comfort than many might have expected from a club experiencing that level for the first time. Parry was not a defender inclined to carry the ball into midfield merely to attract notice, for he preferred to make the tackle, win the header and move possession towards a colleague who could use it farther forward, yet there was intelligence behind that simplicity because good centre-half play depended on positioning as much as force.
He had learned through his Stockport years when to step towards a forward and when to drop, and the experience gained during the Bradford loan and the promotion campaign now helped him against opponents capable of punishing even small errors. Rochdale consolidated their place during 1970–71 as well, and Parry continued to appear regularly, giving the club the rare benefit of a player who had taken part in the climb and was still strong enough to assist in keeping them at the higher level. The surroundings remained modest and the crowds could not match those he had encountered at Anfield, but the responsibility was no smaller because every point mattered to a club working with restricted resources.
During these Third Division seasons Parry finally registered the only League goal of his playing years, a rare addition from a man whose totals at Stockport and Bradford had remained blank and whose main presence in the opposing penalty area came at corners or attacking free-kicks. One goal across nearly 300 League appearances might appear an amusingly small return when detached from his position, but his teams never selected him to chase personal figures, and Rochdale valued the large number of goals he prevented far more highly than the solitary one he supplied. His reliability also showed in his availability, for by the time he left Spotland in 1972 he had made 169 appearances in all competitions for the club, and that total reflected four seasons in which he had been a regular through promotion and the demanding work of establishing Rochdale in the Third Division.
Along with the likes of Ryder, Norman Whitehead and Reg Jenkins, Parry belonged to a group which gave Rochdale supporters one of the strongest periods they had known. And although the Spotland side did not challenge for another promotion, remaining in the division represented substantial progress from the position they had occupied when Parry arrived. He left at 31 with his Football League playing days completed, having amassed 295 League appearances for Stockport County, Bradford City and Rochdale, and the numerical record was impressive precisely because it had been assembled without fuss by a defender who made himself useful wherever he was placed.
Parry did not stop playing when he left Rochdale, for he moved into the Northern Premier League with Macclesfield Town during the summer of 1972 and brought the experience of ten Football League seasons to Moss Rose. He made his debut on 19 August in a 2–1 away victory over Skelmersdale United, and the switch to non-League football did not mean an easy closing spell because the Northern Premier League was fiercely competitive, the travelling was demanding and the programme included numerous cup commitments alongside the League fixtures. Parry nevertheless played 31 League matches during 1972–73 and scored twice, already doubling his entire Football League total, while a further 18 cup appearances brought another goal, so he remained heavily involved rather than merely lending an experienced name to the squad.
Macclesfield were rebuilding, but they found success in the Cheshire Senior Cup, and Parry collected another winners’ medal in the competition after previously sharing Stockport’s triumph in 1966. It was a fitting local connection for a footballer whose playing life had begun around Stockport and had largely remained in north-west England, but the season ended unhappily when he suffered a serious knee injury, and the damage forced him to finish playing in May 1973 at the age of 32. The decision was imposed by his body rather than by a lack of appetite, for his 49 appearances that season showed how fully he had committed himself to Macclesfield.