Sam Parkin

Samuel "Sam" Parkin (born March 14, 1981 in Roehampton, Greater London) is an England professional Association football who currently plays for Luton Town F.C. in the Football League Two. He is known as a prolific striker in the lower leagues.

Football career

Parkin started his career at Chelsea F.C.. However he failed to make the breakthrough and was loaned out to Millwall F.C., Northampton Town F.C., Wycombe Wanderers F.C. and Oldham Athletic A.F.C. with varying degrees of success. In 2002 he signed for Swindon Town F.C. then in the Football League Second Division. In his three seasons at the County Ground he quickly became one of the most feared goalscorers in England, scoring 67 goals in 120 starts. He was affectionately nicknamed 'Super Sammy Parkin' by Swindon Town fans during his time at the club.

In the summer of 2005 he was signed by Joe Royle, manager of Ipswich Town, on a four year deal. Several other clubs, notably Reading F.C. and Brighton & Hove Albion F.C., and Norwich, had also been interested in signing him. He made his Ipswich debut against Cardiff City F.C. and scored on his second game against Queens Park Rangers F.C., who he also supports.

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 an ankle, and was replaced by Nicky Forster - his intended striker partner at the start of the season, and who went on to become top goal scorer. The Ipswich Town fans failed to warm to Parkin during his last full season at the club and was criticized for his seeming lack of work rate and pace.

In the first Ipswich game of the new 2006/07 season Parkin did not even make the bench, making him at the time Ipswich's 6th choice striker.

On August 25 2006 Sam was transferred to Luton Town F.C. for a fee of £340,000. Sam only managed a handful of appearances before injury struck, and he was ruled out for the whole season. It was obvious to Luton fans just how much Sam was worth to the team, as the form since his injury was terrible compared to when he was playing. Luton were relegated.

Parkin returned fully recovered in the 2008–09 in English football from his injury, and was back with a bang with two goals in his first two league games. Luton fans will be hoping this is a sign of things to come this season.

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