Parry, back in the squad after a 17 month absence for personal reasons, stunned Welsh football by walking away claiming he's not prepared to just make up the numbers.
"The writing was on the wall that I was just making the numbers up when the squad was thin due to players not turning up or being injured," he told the Western Mail.
"When two Under 21 internationals [Sam Vokes and Ched Evans] go on before you against countries like Azerbaijan you don't have to be told where you stand in the pecking order.
"While the game was at 0-0 I thought I might get the nod, but the manager put on Ched, Sam and then Carl Robinson.
"OK, not a problem but it spelt out that my time was up.
"For me it was a case that if I didn't get on against the likes of Azerbaijan, who or where was I going to get the chance again?
"Besides I didn't feel part of what was happening around me when I came into the camp.
"I obviously wasn't part of the manager's plans and, whilst it hurts, I have to respect that and he has to respect my decision.
"I'm not going to criticise the manager and there were no heated exchanges. We sat, talked and shook hands, and that was that.
"I'm not going to slate the manager's tactics or how he goes about doing the job.
"But while John's there, I don't have an international future. That hurts, but it's a fact of life.
"When you're not enjoying your football and not getting picked there comes a time when you have to be man enough to make a difficult decision.
"That has been done, even if I don't expect everybody to agree with what I have done."
Parry is the lastest to quit Wales following while serving under John Toshack. Robbie Savage and Danny Collins have previous gone down a similar route.
Is it Tosh? Can he man-manage effectively.? Is it the players? They are very precious these days.
Ultimately it's unrest for Wales who face a huge game in Moscow tomorrow night. Looking on the outside we'll never know for sure but for Parry to walk out in the middle of two qualifiers will lose him a lot of respect. He could have handled it better by getting past the Russian game, a game where he was likely to have started.