Paul Atkinson (footballer, born 1966)

Last updated

Paul Atkinson
Personal information
Full name Paul Atkinson [1]
Date of birth (1966-01-19) 19 January 1966 (age 58) [1]
Place of birth Chester-le-Street, England [1]
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) [2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1981–1983 Sunderland
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1983–1988 Sunderland 60 (5)
1988–1991 Port Vale 4 (3)
1989 → Stafford Rangers (loan) 0 (0)
1990 → Hartlepool United (loan) 11 (1)
Gateshead 0 (0)
Total75(9)
International career
1983 England U17 4 (1)
1982–1985 England Youth 18 (0)
1985 England U19 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Atkinson (born 19 January 1966) is an English former footballer who played on the left-side of midfield. He appeared three times for England Youth in a tournament in 1983, and played another five games the following year. [3] He began his career at Sunderland, and helped the "Black Cats" to the Third Division title in 1987–88. He joined Port Vale for a £20,000 fee in June 1988, but soon became blighted by injury. He was loaned out to Stafford Rangers and Hartlepool United to help to regain his fitness, but was forced to retire from professional football on medical advice in January 1991.

Contents

Career

Atkinson began his career at Sunderland, winning 18 caps for the England youth team between 1982 and 1985. [2] He made his first-team debut at home to Norwich City on 27 August 1983. [2] Alan Durban's side went on to post a 13th-place finish in the First Division in 1983–84. The club suffered relegation in the 1984–85 season under the stewardship of Len Ashurst. Lawrie McMenemy then took charge at Roker Park but failed to halt the club's decline, as Sunderland finished 18th in the Second Division in 1985–86, before suffering relation in 1986–87 after defeat to Gillingham in the play-offs. New boss Denis Smith then led the club straight back up as champions of the Third Division in 1987–88. [2] Smith claimed Atkinson squandered his natural talents by overeating junk food. [4]

Atkinson signed for John Rudge's Port Vale in June 1988 for a £20,000 fee. [1] He scored a brace on his debut in a 3–1 win over Preston North End at Deepdale on 27 August. [1] An ankle injury blighted his career however, and loan spells with Stafford Rangers (January 1989) and Cyril Knowles's Hartlepool United (March 1990) failed to revitalise his career. [1] He played six games for the "Valiants" in 1988–89, and eleven Fourth Division games in his loan spell at Victoria Park. [1] He was forced to retire from professional football on medical advice in January 1991. [1]

Style of play

Atkinson was a speedy midfielder. [2]

Career statistics

Source: [5]

ClubSeasonDivisionLeagueFA CupOtherTotal
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Sunderland 1983–84 First Division 81000081
1984–85 First Division910010100
1985–86 Second Division 1303020150
1986–87 Second Division50004090
1987–88 Third Division 2132240275
Total60552110767
Port Vale 1988–89 Third Division43002063
1989–90 Second Division00000000
1990–91 Second Division00000000
Total43002063
Hartlepool United (loan) 1989–90 Fourth Division 110000111
Career total759521309311

Honours

Sunderland

Related Research Articles

Gary Ford is an English former footballer who played on the right-wing.

Reuben Omojola Folasanje Agboola is a former professional footballer who played at left back. He made 268 league appearances in a 13-year career in the Football League. He made nine appearances for Nigeria between 1991 and 1993, appearing at the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations.

Peter Graham Billing is an English former footballer who played in central defence. He made 281 league and cup appearances in an eleven-year career in the Football League.

Colin West is an English former footballer. He played as a forward and scored 158 goals in 555 league and cup games in the English Football League, Conference and the Scottish Football League.

Barry Alfred Siddall is an English former professional football goalkeeper. When he retired from the game he had 614 appearances over a 21-year career in the Football League, playing for numerous clubs. He played for 13 different Football League clubs: Bolton Wanderers, Sunderland, Darlington, Port Vale, Blackpool, Stoke City, Tranmere Rovers, Manchester City, Stockport County, Hartlepool United, Carlisle United, Chester City and Preston North End. He won promotion out of the Second Division, Third Division, and Fourth Division, and also played in the First Division.

Gary West is an English former footballer. He made 250 appearances in the English Football League between 1982 and 1993, playing for numerous clubs, most notably Sheffield United, Lincoln City and Gillingham.

Eric Winston White is an English former footballer who made 529 league appearances with 13 different clubs in a 17-year career in the Football League.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Grew</span> English footballer (born 1958)

Mark Stuart Grew is an English former football player and coach who played as a goalkeeper.

John Ridley was an English footballer. A versatile player able to play as a defender or midfielder, he had a twelve-year professional career in the English Football League, playing for Port Vale and Chesterfield, as well as Leicester City. He also played for non-League Stafford Rangers and the American side Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

Alan Richard Webb is an English former footballer who played as a right-back. He played 225 league games in an eleven-year career in the Football League. He spent 1981 to 1984 with West Bromwich Albion, and also played on loan at Lincoln City, but spent most of his career at Port Vale. He was voted Port Vale F.C. Player of the Year in 1984–85, helped the club to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1985–86, and won the Third Division play-off final with the club in 1989. He was forced into early retirement in June 1992 following a broken leg sustained in October 1989.

James Alexander Arnold is an English former football goalkeeper, noted for his highly intelligent positional ability. He made 165 league appearances in a seven-year career in the English Football League.

Kenneth Beech is an English former footballer. A midfielder, he played for Port Vale between 1976 and 1981, picking up the club's Player of the Year award in 1980, also playing on loan at American club Cleveland Cobras in 1978. In 1981, he was sold to Walsall before he moved on to Peterborough United two years later. He dropped into non-League football with Stafford Rangers in 1985, with whom he won the Conference League Cup, before he retired in 1988. He played 314 league games in the Football League, scoring 28 goals.

Russell Bromage is an English former footballer who played as a wing-back. In a fourteen-year career in the Football League he made 400 league appearances, scoring 14 goals.

Phillip Jess Sproson is an English former footballer who played as a central defender. He played in 500 matches for Port Vale and scored 41 goals ; this places him second in the list of appearances for Port Vale. He was the nephew of Port Vale defender Roy Sproson and son of Jess Sproson, who played for Vale between 1940 and 1947.

Neville Patrick Chamberlain is an English former footballer. A forward, he scored 73 goals in 296 league games in a ten-year professional career in the Football League.

David Sidney Riley is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder and striker, making 190 league appearances in a nine-year career in the Football League, scoring 40 goals.

Anthony John Lacey is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Stoke City, Port Vale, Rochdale, and Stafford Rangers. He made 288 league appearances in a ten-year career in the Football League. He won promotion out of the Fourth Division with Port Vale in 1969–70. He later went into coaching with Stoke City and served as caretaker manager for eight games in 1985. He began coaching at the Wolverhampton Wanderers Academy in 1996.

Ian Miller is a Scottish former footballer who played his football in England as a winger. He made 660 league and cup appearances in the English Football League over an eighteen-year professional career, scoring 48 goals.

Paul Michael Smith is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Sheffield United, Stockport County, Port Vale, and Lincoln City. He was promoted out of the Third Division with Sheffield United in 1983–84 and won the Conference title with Lincoln City in 1987–88.

The 1986–87 season was Port Vale's 75th season of football in the English Football League, and first season back in the Third Division following promotion from the Fourth Division. John Rudge led to Vale to a mid-table finish, his Player of the Year signing Andy Jones scoring 37 goals in all competitions. Vale Park saw its record lowest attendance for a competitive encounter when only 994 loyal supporters turned out for an Associate Members' Cup clash with Hereford United. More than ten times this number turned out to see the Vale beaten by Manchester United in the Second Round of the League Cup. Rudge also signed Ray Walker to the club, and Andy Porter made his debut.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 11. ISBN   0-9529152-0-0.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dykes, Garth; Lamming, Doug (2000). All the Lads: A Complete Who's Who of Sunderland AFC. Great Britain. p. 27. ISBN   9781899538157.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ↑ Kent, Jeff (1989). Port Vale Promotion Chronicle 1988-1989: Back to Where We Once Belonged!. Witan Books. p. 13. ISBN   0-9508981-3-9.
  4. ↑ Smith, Denis (2008), Just One of Seven, Know The Score Books, p. 202, ISBN   978-1-84818-504-3
  5. ↑ Paul Atkinson at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.