THE family of cup upset football manager Phil Parkinson has promised to fully enjoy his achievement.
The Stockton-raised boss of Bradford City this week became the first manager to take a fourth tier team to a Wembley League Cup final.
His parents Marjorie and Jim still live in the Hartburn area.
The couple were among the crowd cheering the League Two underdogs on against Aston Villa as they secured their place in history.
Jim, 71, a retired transport engineer, said: “It’s been a big part of our life, his football, and we have lived with the ups and downs. We’re going to enjoy this.
“One of the things we say to him, because he is out of the area, is about the amount of people who stop us to say ‘we see your lad is doing well’.
“I rang him yesterday and he said the phone had melted with all the well-wishes from all over the place.”
Mum Marjorie, 69, a retired care assistant, admitted the West Yorkshire team’s cup run had something of “Roy of the Rovers” about it.
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She said: “To be leading the team out at Wembley, it’s the pinnacle of any manager’s career.”
Phil was born in Chorley, Lancashire but the family moved to Teesside in 1978 when he was 10 and Jim took a job with Cleveland Transit.
He first went to primary school at St Patrick’s in Stockton and then Our Lady and St Bede’s secondary school.
The family regularly went to Ayresome Park to watch Middlesbrough, with Phil being a fan of John Neal’s team of the late 1970s with Jim Platt, Terry Cochrane and David Armstrong the stand-out players.
Phil played for his school teams, St Patricks in the Teesside Junior Football Alliance - a team set up by his dad - and Stockton Town and Cleveland County.
He was scouted by Southampton and moved away at 16 - just two weeks after finishing his final exams at Our Lady and St Bede’s.
The whole family, including big brother Simon, 47, living in Scotland, and little sister Debra, 41, living in Yarm, are looking forward to the big day out at Wembley.
Marjorie added: “Whatever happens, happens. It’s been brilliant.”