Parkinson played 85 League games for Blackpool and scored 29 goals in his first spell at the seaside club. He only played one game for Liverpool, in a Merseyside derby against Everton. Parkinson was transferred back to Blackpool in May 1900, where he made further 290 appearances and scored 24 goals. He went on a free transfer to Barrow in 1910. Parkinson's life had a tragic ending as when in his job as superintendent of Cocker Street Baths was attempting to rescue a colleague from a tank of boiling sea-water when a plank on which he was standing gave way and he also fell in, later succumbing to his injuries.