Arrivals and departures - part three

Jonathan "Jon" Parkin was born on 30 December 1981 in Barnsley. His nickname is "The Beast" and the chant of "Feed the Beast and he will score!" The nickname originates from his time with Macclesfield.

Parkin, a defender turned striker and a prodigious swimmer as a child. Parkin was a product of the Barnsley youth system and made his home town debut at the age of 17 against Hartlepool making 10 league appearances for Barnsley. Parkin made one appearance for Hartlepool in January 2002 on loan before joining York City in February initially on loan before making the move permanent in March 2002 on a free transfer.

Parkin scored on his debut in a 1-0 victory at Southend on 9 February and made 18 appearances for York for the remainder of the season.

Parkin scored 14 league goals in 74 appearances for York, despite sometimes playing in a central defensive role. His last appearance was in a 4-1 home defeat against Lincoln on 17 February 2004.

After nearly two years with the club, he moved to Macclesfield, after York told him they wouldn't be able to offer him the same pay deal for the 2004/05 season. His first goal for the club was in a 2-0 victory over his former club York in April 2004.

In the 2004/05 season, Parkin scored 26 goals in all competitions for the Silkmen, which was a new club record. He scored the first of four braces on the opening day of the season in the 3-1 victory at Leyton Orient. Parkin also scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 win at Notts County on 25 January 2005.

Injuring his knee at the start of the 2005/06 season delayed his start until October and then in between October and January, he scored 9 times in 15 games. Pakin scored in his final appearance for the Silkman in a 3-1 defeat at Boston on 7 January 2006, he had scored 30 league goals from 65 appearances.

Hull signed Parkin on an 18-month deal and he marked his debut with a goal against Crystal Palace in a 2-1 home defeat on 12 January. He finished the 2005-06 season with five goals in 19 games for Hull.

In the opening month of the 2006/07 season, he was the only Hull player to score in the League, with 3 goals in their first 5 games. Parkin scored a further 3 goals in 22 league matches before being loaned out to Stoke for the remainder of the 2006/07 season in March 2007. Parkin made his Stoke debut in the 2-1 home win against Southampton on 17 March and made 6 appearances scoring in each of the last three matches. He was recalled by Hull from his loan at Stoke on 10 April 2007 to make a further 2 appearances for Hull to take his tally to 11 goals from 47 appearances.

On 20 June 2007, Parkin signed for Stoke City in an initial £275,000 deal. But only started in 4 of his 29 matches in the promotion winning side of 2007/08. His two goals for the season came in his opening two Championship matches.

Parkin scored in his final appearance for Stoke in the 3-2 victory at Cheltenham in the League Cup on 12 August, he had netted 5 goals in 35 league appearances.

Parkin joined Preston on an emergency loan on 30 August 2008, which turned into a permanent three-year contract for an undisclosed fee on 1 September. He made his debut on the day he joined the club as PNE beat Charlton 2-1.