Parlane: Derek James (Derek)

1980-1983 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Helensburg, Dunbartonshire: 05-05-1953

Debut: v Southampton (h): 08-03-1980

6’0” 11st 10lb (1981)

Parlane was initially a midfielder and it was in that position that he started his football career, when he attended and played for Rhu Primary School and then Hermitage Academy. He joined local Dumbarton team Castle Rock and from there he was asked to train with Queens Park. Still only fifteen he was playing for Queens Park's Reserve team when he was selected to play for Scotland Amateurs in the Home International series. This brought him to the notice of several Scottish League sides. One of those clubs was Rangers offered him professional terms with Rangers legends Willie Waddell and Willie Thornton personally approaching him, and in April 1970 at the age of just sixteen he joined the club which his father, Jimmy Parlane, had played for just after the Second World War. Jock Wallace converted him from a midfielder to a striker and he was eased into the first team, making two starts and coming off the bench twice in the League in the 1970-71 season and then two League starts in the following season. He made a dramatic European debut with a goal against Bayern Munich in the home Semi-Final of the European Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1972 as a replacement for the injured John Greig. He soon became an established star at Ibrox with his scoring ability, particularly with headed goals, bringing him Twelve Scottish full caps, five at Under-Twenty-three level, one at Under-Twenty-one and two appearances for the Scottish League XI. With Rangers he won two League Championship medals, two Cup Winners’ medals and three League Cup Winners’ medals before being sold to Leeds for £160,000 in March 1980. While at Ibrox he played two hundred and two League games and scored eighty times and he made three hundred appearances for Rangers, scoring one hundred and eleven goals in all games. The night of 19th April 1972 was an evening that few Glaswegians, particularly Rangers fans, would ever forget as the two auld enemies both played in European Cup Semi-Finals within a few miles of each other. Bayern Munich played in the European Cup-Winners Cup at Ibrox while at Parkhead Inter Milan were the opposition that Celtic had to do battle with in the European Cup. Parlane was just eighteen and in the 1971-72 season had played just two League games, in a 1-1 draw at Clyde on 8th April 1972 and a 0-2 defeat at Dundee, two days later. Manager Willie Waddell took a gamble by including Parlane as John Grieg's replacement. It paid off as Parlane scored Rangers second goal with a left foot shot high into the roof of the net to complete a sensational 2-0 victory and take Rangers to the Camp Nou at Barcelona where they defeated Moscow Dynamo 3-2 on 24th May 1972 to win the European Cup-Winners Cup. Parlane became a regular in 1972-73 as Jock Wallace, who had been elevated to replace Willie Waddell, played him in the striking role, and he scored nineteen goals in twenty-nine starts and one game from the bench in the League and Rangers lifted the Scottish Cup. He gained his first representative honour, at Under-Twenty-Three level, as he came on as a substitute for Alex Cropley in a 1-2 defeat by England at Kilmarnock and this was quickly followed by his starting debut on 14th March 1973 as Scotland beat Wales 2-1 at the Vetch Field Swansea, but he was replaced by Andy McCulloch of Cardiff City and later that month he made an appearance for the Scottish League at Hampden Park in a 2-2 draw with the Football League on 27th March 1973. The following season, 1973-74, he scored fourteen League goals for Rangers from twenty-eight starts and one game as a substitute, while on the representative front he made his full debut in the previous close seasonwhen he started for Scotland on 12th May 1973 in a 2-0 win over Wales at the Racecourse Ground Wrexham but he was taken off in the eightieth minute with a broken ankle and replaced by Colin Stein of Coventry City. He had recovered in time to add two further caps to his collection as Scotland went down by the only goal to Switzerland at the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne on 22nd June 1973 and eight days later once more repeated the score against Brazil at Hampden Park. He also increased his Under-Twenty-Three Caps to three and opened his goal tally with Scotland's first goal in a 3-0 win over Wales at Pittodrie, with a penalty, on 27th February 1974. He made his second and final appearance for the Scottish League in a 0-5 drubbing by the Football League at Maine Road, Manchester, on 20th March 1974. The 1974-75 season saw Rangers finally break Celtic's dominance as the Blues won the Scottish League Championship, helped in no small part by Parlane's contribution of seventeen League goals from thirty starts and one game as a substitute. On a personal representative level took his tally to five as he added his final two Under-Twenty-Three Caps as Scotland were beaten 0-3 at Pittodrie on 18th December 1974 and went down 0-2 to Wales at the Vetch Field, Swansea, on 25th February 1975. His full Caps rose to nine as he first came on as a Substitute for Joe Jordan in the eightieth minute of a 1-1 draw with Spain at Estadio Luis Casanova, Valencia, on 5th February 1975 and then two friendlies in another 1-1 draw with Sweden at the Ullevi Stadion, Gothenburg, on 16th April 1975 and a 1-0 win over Portugal on 13th May 1975 at Hampden Park. Four days later he was in the Scottish line-up at Ninian Park, Cardiff as the sides played out a 2-2 draw and Parlane went on to play all three of the Home Internationals that season as he scored Scotland's third goal in the eightieth minute to claim his only full international goal in a 3-0 win over Northern Ireland at Hampden Park on 20th May 1975, but just four days later there was a 1-5 hiding from England at Wembley which held few positive memories. There were good memories for the Rangers team and supporters in the 1975-76 season as the club claimed the treble of the Scottish League Championship, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup, but while he was happy to be a part of the triumphs Parlane found himself being too often on the bench than being in the starting eleven, as he scored just five League goals from seventeen starts and seven games as a substitute, after losing form and being dropped in favour of Martin Henderson. In the preceding off-season he had made his tenth appearance for Scotland in a 1-1 draw with Romania in the Stadionul 23rd August, Bucharest on 1st June 1975 and then added another on 29th October 1975 as Scotland beat Denmark 3-1 at Idraetsparken, Copenhagen, but he saw just five minutes of play as he came on as a very late substitute for Ted MacDougall. 1976-77 saw Parlane feature more regularly again for Rangers, scoring sixteen League goals from thirty-one starts and two from the bench, as Rangers failed to pick up any silverware. Parlane picked up his only Under-Twenty-One Cap as an overage player in a 3-2 win over Wales at Easter Road on 9th February 1977 and played his final game for Scotland in a 0-0 draw with Wales at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, but though he started he was replaced by Kenny Burns after seventy-seven minutes. Once again in 1977-78 he found himself more often than not on the bench, but scored five League goals from six starts and sixteen from the bench as Rangers took out the Scottish League Championship and the Scottish League Cup. In 1978/79 there was a double for Rangers as they took out the Scottish League and Cup but although Parlane saw more action he failed to find the net as regularly as he would have hoped, scoring four League goals in twenty-one starts and three games from the bench. He had made two starts and played one game from the bench without scoring in the League in the following season before moving to Leeds in March 1980. Although he scored on his United debut, goals did not come easy and he spent nine months on loan with Hong Kong club, Bulova, ending in June 1983. He went to Hong Kong to try and recover from injury and prove his fitness which saw him make only make thirteen appearances in his last two seasons at Elland Road. Only when he joined Manchester City on a free-transfer in July 1983 did he recapture his scoring form. On 14th July 1983, new Manchester City manager Billy McNeill brought him to Maine Road. There he linked up with another newcomer, fellow Scot Jim Tolmie and on their debut for the Blues on Saturday 27th August 1983, City beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park in the Second Division. Both new boys each scored one which set a precedent for the rest of the season. Parlane's highlight of the season was a hat-trick in a 6-0 home win over Blackburn Rovers on 17th September 1983. However, City failed to get promotion, coming fourth with seventy points, eighteen behind Champions Chelsea and narrow Runners-up Sheffield Wednesday and ten points behind third placed Newcastle United. 1984-85 was quite bad for Parlane as City signed David Phillips from Coventry City and Tony Cunningham from Newcastle United to bolster their attack. He got injured in September 1984, played his final game for the Sky Blues at Shrewsbury Town in a 0-1 defeat on 13th October 1984 and was sold to Swansea City in January, 1985. Parlane finished up scoring twenty times in forty-eight games, of which one was from the bench, in the League, and started one F.A. Cup tie without scoring but scored three times in three starts in the League Cup, in his sixteen month stay at Maine Road. He only stayed at Swansea for a four month spell, scoring three times in twenty-one League games, before going to New Zealand with North Shore United for the English closed season. He then joined Racing Jet Belgium for the 1985-86 season but failed to score in either of his two League games. He joined Rochdale in December 1986, but a financial crisis saw Rochdale boss Eddie Gray release his former Leeds colleague in 1988 after he had scored ten times in forty-two League appearances, of which seven goals came in twenty-three League appearances in 1986-87 and three goals in nineteen starts in his final season. Parlane joined another Leeds Old Boy, Gordon McQueen at Airdrie in January 1988 and he scored four times in nine games. In summer that year he joined Non-League Macclesfield Town on a free-transfer, scoring twice in twenty-eight games, in a two season stay, having previously been with Curzon Ashton for a month. Parlane later became a Director of Macclesfield Town and worked as a sportswear agent in the North-West and lived in Wilmslow. He later moved to Reebok in Manchester and became a Sales Manager and lived at Lytham St Annes. On the 22nd February 2010, Derek Parlane was inducted into the Rangers FC Hall of Fame.