Details of Parlby's life before he moved to Manchester are unclear, though some sources indicate he played for Stoke in the pre-professional era.
His links with the brewing trade led to a role on the committee of Ardwick Association Football Club, who used a public house, the Hyde Road Hotel, as their headquarters.
[2] A larger than life character, Parlby had a reputation for wrangling the club out of financial trouble by whatever means possible.
Contemporary accounts tell of him sneaking players onto trains when the club struggled to afford travel expenses for away matches[1] At the end of Parlby's first season as manager Ardwick finished thirteenth in the Second Division, and were required to seek re-election to the league.
Believing the club needed to establish an identity capable of appealing to all Mancunians, Parlby was an influential figure in the reformation of Ardwick as Manchester City in 1894, and the subsequent success in achieving re-election to the league.