Scottish footballer and manager
Robert Norris Parker
(27 March 1891 ? 1950) was a Scottish professional
footballer
whose position was
centre forward
.
He played professionally in Scotland with
Rangers
and
Morton
[2]
and in England with
Everton
and
Nottingham Forest
during a career interrupted by
World War I
, in which he was seriously injured. He later served as manager of
Fraserburgh
in Scotland and
Bohemians
in Ireland.
Playing career
[
edit
]
Born in
Glasgow
, Parker started his career with
Junior
team
Ashfield
, followed by three seasons at
Rangers
,
[1]
[3]
during which he had a scoring record of a goal every game but was always a backup to the equally prolific
Willie Reid
; Rangers won the
Scottish Football League
title in each of those years, but it is unclear if Parker was awarded any medals, having only featured in 2, 3 and 9 of the fixtures respectively.
With the situation unchanged at the beginning of a fourth campaign, he moved to England to play for
Everton
in 1913 for a fee of £1,500.
He finished as the top goalscorer for the
Toffees
in the
1913?14
and
1914?15
seasons, the latter of which he was
the top goalscorer overall
in the
First Division
while Everton was crowned
champion
.
[5]
The
First World War
then interrupted Parker's career and ultimately robbed him of cementing a place amongst Everton's greats as he returned home from the conflict with a bullet lodged in his back.
[6]
The injury made him a shadow of his former self, and he was later sold to
Nottingham Forest
.
Coaching career
[
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]
In retirement, he worked as manager of Irish club
Bohemians
, where he coached them to the Clean Sweep in 1927?28, winning the
League of Ireland
,
FAI Cup
,
Shield
, and
Leinster Senior Cup
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Parker was a
private
in the
Royal Scots Fusiliers
and
Labour Corps
during the First World War.
[6]
Honours
[
edit
]
Everton
Bohemian
References
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]