Steve Parkin
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Steve Parkin Born 7 November 1965 is a football (soccer) manager currently in charge of Rochdale A.F.C.
Parkin started his managerial career at Mansfield Town at the start of the 96/97 season after Andy King was sacked. Parkin, only 30 at the time, and club captain, took over as a caretaker manager, but went to last three seasons with the Stags, missing out closely on the play-offs in two of his three seasons. Parkin left Mansfield after his position became untenable due to a transfer embargo on the Nottinghamshire club, and joined Rochdale in the summer before the 1999/2000 season.
Parkin's first spell at Rochdale was a great success, and he lifted the Lancashire club from the depths of the league to an 8th place finish in his first season. The team's success paved the way for big money signings like Paul Connor and Clive Platt. On 9 November 2001 Parkin was attracted to a bigger club in the form of Barnsley F.C. who made him manager. Rochdale eventually missed out on promotion by losing in the play-off semi-final in May 2002.
Parkin's spell at Barnsley was not a productive or a successful one. Barnsley were in the relegation place at the time of his take over in Division 1 and with a prohibitive transfer budget, Parkin could not stop the rot and Barnsley were relegated in April 2002. The second season was not much better either, and with debt-ridden Barnsley struggling to stave off a second successive relegation in October 2002, Parkin, along with assistant Tony Ford were both sacked.
Parkin did not find a managerial position for 14 months after his departure from Barnsley. He became assistant manager at Notts County shortly after his sacking. In December 2003, Parkin went back to his former job at Rochdale, where Ford had already been re-employed as assistant-manager to Parkin's predecessor Alan Buckley. He has been there ever since. His first duty was to save Rochdale from relegation that season, which he did with a few games to spare, adding talent such as Grant Holt to the ranks although Rochdale's final position was lower than when he took over. His second season in his new (old) job saw Dale nearly reach the play-offs, but stumbled late in the season. In the 2005/2006 season, Parkin guided the club to what many saw was a backward step, only narrowly avoiding relegation.
Parkin and Dale are under an increasingly large amount of pressure, following a poor start to the 2006/07 League Two season, which has seen Rochdale gain only 6 points from 8 matches. During this season Dale lost arguably one of their best players of recent years, Rickie Lambert, the attacking midfielder/striker was sold to Bristol Rovers for £200,000 on transfer deadline day in August 2006
[edit] References
| Rochdale A.F.C. - Current Squad |
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1 Gilks | 2 Ramsden | 3 Jackson | 4 Cooksey | 5 Doolan | 6 Boardman | 7 Clarke | 8 Jones | 9 Dagnall | 11 Rundle | 12 Goodall | 13 Rigby | 14 Brown | 15 Thompson | 16 Barker | 17 Murray | 18 Stanton | 19 Crooks | 20 Moyo-Modise | 21 Sharp | 22 Goodhind | 24 Warburton | 26 Sako | Manager: Parkin |
