Parkinson was born in Chorley, England, and grew up there until the age of ten, when he moved with his parents and two siblings to Stockton-on-Tees, where he attended Our Lady and St Bede RC School.

[6] Parkinson was named player of the season for two consecutive years (1997–98 and 1998–99) and was also a key member of the 1993–94 Football League Second Division championship-winning team.

He captained the team to promotion from the Second Division in 2001–02 and soon after promotion success, Parkinson celebrated his testimonial year with a memorable night at Madejski Stadium, where 20,000 fans watched former Reading teammates such as Shaka Hislop, Michael Gilkes and Jeff Hopkins take on an England XI including the likes of Paul Gascoigne, John Barnes and Chris Waddle.

[8][9] Although Parkinson rarely featured on the field in his final season as Reading returned to the First Division, he remained a well-respected member of the squad until his departure to Layer Road.

[13] After another defeat in the next match at home to Southampton 4–2, he left by "mutual consent" in early December, leaving Hull in the relegation zone.

[21] He won the League Two Manager of the Month award for December 2011 after victories over promotion candidates Shrewsbury Town and Crewe Alexandra.

Parkinson also enjoyed a promising run in the Johnstones Paint Trophy with the Bantams taking them to the Northern division semi-finals with victories over Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United as well as an away victory against local rivals Huddersfield Town on penalties, before their run ended with a defeat to Oldham Athletic.

[23] Despite a 2–1 defeat in the second leg at Villa Park, Bradford won the tie 4–3 on aggregate to progress to the 2013 League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

[27] His role in taking Bradford City to the League Cup final resulted in him being rewarded with the Outstanding Managerial Achievement award.

[32] Bradford City went 2–0 down in the first half, but fought back in stunning fashion to record what Robbie Fowler called the "greatest FA Cup upset of all time".

[35] Bradford reached the League One play-offs in the 2015–16 season under Parkinson's management, but exited at the semi-finals after being beaten 4–2 on aggregate over two legs by Millwall.

His time in charge of the club came to an end in June 2016, however, as Parkinson left Bradford to join Bolton Wanderers, who had recently been relegated into League One.

[37] On 10 June 2016, both Parkinson and assistant manager Steve Parkin signed two-year deals to join Bradford's fellow League One side Bolton, thus ending Wanderers' three-month search for a replacement for Neil Lennon.

[45] Parkinson's side would subsequently embark on a six-game unbeaten run following the win, however the club remained inside the relegation zone at its conclusion, having drawn five of the six games.

[46] Such was the poor start to the season, it took Parkinson's reinvigorated Bolton side until early December to emerge from the relegation zone, after beating Barnsley 3–1 at home.

[48] Parkinson's Bolton side won back-to-back league matches for the first time since winning promotion on 1 January 2018, by defeating struggling Hull City 1–0.

[55] This award came two days after Wrexham had defeated league leaders Stockport County 2–0 in the FA Trophy semi-final to win a place in the final at Wembley against Bromley.