Phil Parkes has died aged 79, and Wolves are mourning a goalkeeper who spent 18 years at the club between 1960 and 1978. Parkes made 382 appearances after joining as a schoolboy, then stayed part of the club’s story long after his playing days ended.

A Wolves career that lasted decades

The scale of the connection is hard to miss. Parkes was inducted into Wolves' hall of fame in 2023, a reminder that the club had not forgotten him, and former team-mate John Richards described him as someone who had been part of the Wolves family for "the best part of 70 years".

Richards also said: "It's a sad day, I've had so many calls this morning from former players and friends of Phil just passing on their best wishes and thoughts and prayers to the family."

He added: "He was one of the people who would have your back. He looked frightening but he was the opposite. He was a big gentle giant until one of his friends was in trouble and then he was there to protect everybody."

Parkes' name sits alongside some of Wolves' better-known years. He helped the club reach the UEFA Cup final in 1972, where they lost on aggregate to Tottenham Hotspur.

Wolves now, and the gap to that era

The modern picture is much harsher. Wolves finished the 2025 Premier League season on 20 points, sit 20th in the league and have a goal difference of -41.

Those numbers do not change what Parkes meant to the club, but they do show how far Wolves have drifted from the period he helped define. The contrast is strong enough without needing to push it: one side is a goalkeeper with 382 appearances and a 2023 hall of fame nod, the other is a club fighting through a miserable league campaign.

Richards said Parkes was known as "Lofty" or "the big man", and that he "had a big heart as well". That fits the picture that has come through in the tributes, a long-serving Wolves figure who made a large club feel even more personal.

Wolves have lost one of the men most closely tied to their modern identity, and the tributes are already telling the story of why.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →