Having become an amateur at Newcastle when not yet 16, Ray Parkin was whisked off to Arsenal soon after his 17th birthday. He was still not 18 when he made his First Division debut for them at inside-right – and scored. In six seasons at Highbury, he would occasionally deputise for David Jack in that position and would have one short spell, of five goals in four games, at centre-forward. He would never have a longer run than that in the first team, despite playing in five positions and scoring healthily when played at inside- or centre-forward. After a season-and-a-half, and a few games, for First Division Middlesbrough, he was among Tom Parker’s reinforcements in September 1937.

The recently-arrived manager had been busy signing players for six months, but his new ensemble had made a dire start. Parker had played with Parkin at Highbury but now had an updated, positive report from Watty Keay, still scouting for the club at the age of 65. Signed for a £1,500 fee – £750 down and the rest before February – Ray obliged by scoring on his League debut, ending the side’s goal-drought of 534 minutes.

As at Highbury, he would prove versatile, scoring a few goals when played in attack, but spending most of the 1938-39 season at right-half.

He was at wing-half in two of the three games completed in the aborted 1939-40 season, but that was the end of his professional career. He soon had a war-time position in the game, however, when the Board gave permission for him to guest for Holiday Sports. After the War, he was he was employed as an electrician in a coal-mine, near Leicester.