or a successful one. Barnsley were in the relegation place at the time of his take over in Division One and with a small transfer budget, Parkin could not improve their position and Barnsley were relegated in April 2002. With debt-ridden Barnsley struggling to stave off a second successive relegation, on 15 October 2002, the club went into administration and Parkin along with his assistant Tony Ford both lost their jobs. Parkin did not find a managerial position for 14 months after his departure from Barnsley, although he expressed an interest in taking over at Colchester United. He became assistant manager at Notts County shortly after his sacking. Return to Rochdale In December 2003, Parkin went back to his former job at Rochdale, where Ford had already been re-employed as assistant-manager to Parkin's predecessor Alan Buckley. His first duty was to save Rochdale from relegation that season, which he did with a few games to spare, adding talent such as Grant Holt to the ranks, although Rochdale's final position was lower than when he took over. His second season saw Dale nearly reach the play-offs, but stumble late in the season. In the 2005–06 season, Parkin guided the club to what many saw as a backward step, only narrowly avoiding relegation. Both Parkin and Dale were under an increasingly significant amount of pressure following a poor start to the 2006–07 season, which saw Rochdale gain only six points from eight matches. During the course of the season Dale lost arguably one of their best players of recent years, Rickie Lambert, an attacking midfielder/striker who was sold to Bristol Rovers for £200,000 on transfer deadline day in August 2006. Parkin's position became untenable and he was sacked shortly before Christmas. Coaching career In January 2007 he was installed as the first-team coach for Championship side Hull City, working alongside Phil Brown and Brian Horton. On 15 March 2010 he took over as joint caretaker manager with Brian Horton after Phil Brown was put on gardening leave. In June 2010 Nigel Pearson was appointed at the full-time successor to Phil Brown, and opted to bring his own backroom staff with him from his previous position at Leicester City, bringing to an end Parkin's association with the club. On 6 October 2010, it was announced that Parkin would be swapping the north for the south bank of the Humber, joining newly appointed manager