Paul Parry: Movies & Filmography

Paul Ian Parry, born on 19 August 1980 in Chepstow, Wales, is a Welsh former professional footballer who currently serves as the assistant manager of Ardal South East side Chepstow Town, working alongside Marc Ingles. Throughout his 16-year professional career, Parry played as a winger for several notable clubs including Hereford United, Cardiff City, Preston North End, and Shrewsbury Town. He was also a former Wales international, earning 12 caps for his country between 2004 and 2008, during which he scored one goal. Parry attended Chepstow Comprehensive School as a youngster before embarking on his football journey, and he currently runs a property management company called Parry Property LTD with his wife, Samantha.

Parry's football career began in the youth setup at Bristol City from 1995 to 1997, before he joined Hereford United as a YTS trainee. He made his senior league debut for Hereford on 7 November 1998, and his profile was significantly raised after an impressive FA Cup performance against Leicester City in the 1999/00 season, where he came agonizingly close to scoring the winning goal against goalkeeper Tim Flowers. He was Hereford's leading goalscorer in the 2002–03 season, and on 19 December 2003, he scored a hat-trick in a 7–1 rout over Forest Green Rovers, which caught the attention of Cardiff City manager Lennie Lawrence. Cardiff subsequently signed him for an initial fee of £75,000, with his final appearance for Hereford seeing him score the winning goal in added time against Stevenage Borough. At Cardiff City, Parry quickly became a firm favourite with the Bluebirds fans, and despite the club's well-documented financial problems, he remained at the club and continued to improve under new manager Dave Jones. By the time of his departure, he was the longest-serving first team player at the club. During the 2007–08 season, Parry finished as the club's joint top scorer with 11 goals in all competitions alongside Joe Ledley, and he played all 90 minutes in the FA Cup final defeat to Portsmouth.

In 2008–09, after expressing his desire to play as a regular forward, he opened his goalscoring account with both goals in a 2–1 League Cup win over AFC Bournemouth, though he soon reverted to playing as a winger. On 3 August 2009, Parry joined Championship rivals Preston North End for a fee of around £300,000, and after being a reserve for most of the 2010/11 season, he regained his first team place at left-back in League One. On 9 July 2012, he signed for League One club Shrewsbury Town, turning down a new offer from Preston, and scored his first goal for the club on 14 August 2012 in a 1–0 win against his former club. He was released at the end of his contract following Shrewsbury's relegation, but in January 2022, Parry came out of retirement to sign for Cymru South side Risca United.

Internationally, Parry made his debut for Wales on 18 February 2004 as a substitute in a 4–0 win over Scotland, and scored his first international goal in a 1–0 win over Canada on 30 May 2004. He was called up for the Euro 2008 qualifiers in August 2007 but pulled out due to personal reasons related to a stressful divorce and custody battle. He returned briefly to win one more cap against Georgia before announcing his shock retirement from internationals at the age of 28, feeling like a spare part in the squad. Off the pitch, Parry is well known for his severe aviophobia (fear of flying), which caused significant problems throughout his career, similar to Dennis Bergkamp, and he often managed long-distance travel by car while taking tablets to help cope with the fear.