Peter Atherton

Peter Atherton
Personnel
Surname	Peter Atherton
birthday	April 6, 1970
place of birth	Orrell , Greater Manchester ,  England
position	Defense , midfield (defensive)
Juniors
Years	station
1984-1988	Wigan Athletic
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1988-1991	Wigan Athletic	149 (1)
1991-1994	Coventry City	114 (0)
1994-2000	Sheffield Wednesday	214 (9)
2000-2005	Bradford City	94 (3)
2001	→  Birmingham City  (loan)	10 (0)
2005-2008	Halifax Town	15 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1991	England U-21	1 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
2003	Bradford City (interim)
1 Only league games are given.

Peter Atherton (born April 6, 1970 in Orrell , Greater Manchester ) is a retired English football player . As a versatile player who was used as a right full-back, in the center of defense and in the defensive midfield, he was best known for his time in the second half of the 1990s as captain of Sheffield Wednesday .

Athletic career

Wigan Athletic (1984-1991)

Atherton joined the Wigan Athletic club in his home country in October 1984 through a student contract . After switching to the official junior program as a “trainee” in July 1986, he signed his first professional contract in February 1988 with the then third division team. He had already made his league debut at FC Blackpool (0-0) for the first team on October 24, 1987 . He completed another 15 league games in the 1987/88 season and in the subsequent 1988/89 season he won a regular place in the "Latics".

With his use against Huddersfield Town on November 26, 1988, he started a series of uninterrupted league games for Wigan, which included the entire seasons 1989/90 and 1990/91. During these years, the versatile defensive player who can be used in defense and midfield was honored internally as “Player of the Year”. In addition, he was nominated for the third division team of the year ( PFA Team of the Year ) by the PFA players' union. For higher tasks, he had recommended himself in the FA Cup against the first division club Coventry City and the then responsible coach Terry Butcher was so impressed that he piloted Atherton to Coventry for 300,000 pounds shortly after the start of the 1991/92 season.

Coventry City (1991-1994)

In Coventry, Atherton was immediately part of a robust line of defense and with him in the center of the defense (although not exactly tall at around 1.80 meters), the team conceded fewer goals than the average - only 44 in 42 league games. In addition, he completed his first (and only) international match for the English U-21 team in October 1991 .

In the following two years until mid-1994 he developed into a seasoned player in the Premier League, which was restarted for the 1992/93 season . Atherton completed 79 of 84 league games for Coventry City and was mostly used in the center of defense and sporadically on the right full-back position. In early June 1994 he finally moved to first division rivals Sheffield Wednesday for the transfer fee of 800,000 pounds .

Sheffield Wednesday (1994-2000)

At the "Owls" from Sheffield Atherton should primarily replace the returning to Sweden right defender Roland Nilsson . But when the Romanian Dan Petrescu could be committed, Atherton first began again in the defense center, before he continuously prevailed as the "first choice" on the right wing position. Decisive for this were his strengths, which lay in the fact that he combined his tackle strength and good positional play with powerful runs on the right side and good flanks. At the end of his first season in Sheffield, fans voted him “Player of the Year”. In the second year he was more often drawn to the center of defense, where he formed the defense center together with Des Walker . Under the new coach David Pleat he was also promoted to team captain (and related successor to Walker). For Pleat Atherton's readiness for action, which the younger players had to orientate themselves, was decisive for this decision. Atherton was always known as a so-called "no-nonsense" player, because his style of play created few surprises, but rarely took risks.

From then on, he grew more and more into the role of central defensive midfielder and, not least, the club owed it to his leadership qualities that he was able to place himself in the top half of the table in 1997 (after being barely relegated the year before). Even in the 1997/98 season, when Sheffield Wednesday just barely averted relegation, like two years earlier, he was still a key player in the team's tactical direction and occasionally he even helped out in attacking positions. In the 1998/99 season he returned to the defense to act there again as a right defender and the following year, when Sheffield was relegated to the second division as penultimate , he mostly held the position in the center of defense. As a respected first division defensive player, it was not surprising that Atherton turned his back on Sheffield in July 2000 and stayed with the Premier League with his free transfer to Bradford City .

Bradford City (2000-2005)

In an eventful 2000/01 season, Atherton played for Bradford as a right full-back and moved to central defense after Andy O'Brien was injured before he found himself on the bench for the first time in February 2001 against Southampton FC . Just two days later, Bradford loaned him to the second division club Birmingham City for the rest of the season . After an impressive debut against local rivals West Bromwich Albion (2-1) with nine more league appearances there contributed to reaching the play-off games and also completed both semi-finals against Preston North End , which ended with the elimination.

Following his return to Bradford City, which was now playing only second class, Atherton injured his knee so badly in the pre-season that an operation was performed in mid-August 2001. A comeback attempt ended in November 2001 against Norwich City after just over an hour and the relapse meant that he was no longer used in the 2001/02 season. In August 2002 his return was more successful and in the following years he played his way back into the team - mostly acting in defensive midfield - his only goal of the season against Crystal Palace (2: 1) in March 2003 contributed significantly to three important points in the Fight to keep up. He was now largely injury-free and in addition to his integral role on the field in front of the defensive chain, he also served the club in the 2003/04 relegation season as an interim coach at times. Together with Wayne Jacobs , he coached the team against Stoke City , before Bryan Robson could finally be signed as the new head coach. In August 2004, Atherton broke an ankle during a game of the reserve team, which was followed by a three-month forced break. Only after the turn of the year did he come again to ten consecutive appearances in the right- back position during the absence of Darren Holloway , but after the renewed loss of regular seat Atherton's contract expired in mid-2005, which also ended his engagement in Bradford overall.

Halifax Town (2005-2008)

Atherton let his career end from 2005 in the Football Conference at Halifax Town . There he completed another 14 league games in the 2005/06 season before moving to the club's coaching staff in July 2007. He completed his last own assignment on April 10, 2008 against Ebbsfleet United .

Title / Awards

• PFA Team of the Year (1): 1990/91 (3rd division)

Web links

• Peter Atherton in the database of soccerbase.com (English)
• Short profile at Sporting Heroes

Individual evidence

1. ^ "England - U-21 International Results 1986–1995 - Details" (RSSSF)
2. ^ Barry J. Hugman: Premier League: The Players - A Complete Guide to Every Player 1992-93 . Tony Williams Publishing, 1992, ISBN 1-869833-15-5 , pp. 104 .
3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 0-09-180854-5 , pp. 15 .
4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85291-571-4 , pp. 17 .
5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85291-581-1 , pp. 17th f .
6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 19 .
7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85291-607-9 , pp. 19 .
8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 19th f .
9. ^ John Brodie, Jason Dickinson: Sheffield Wednesday - The Complete Record . DB Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85983-973-7 , pp. 188-189 .
10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 18 .
11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 25 .
12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 29 .
13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2004, ISBN 1-85291-660-5 , pp. 27 .
14. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 1-85291-662-1 , pp. 28 .
15. ↑ Glenda Rollin, Jack Rollin (Eds.): Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2006-2007 . Headline Publishing Group, London 2006, ISBN 0-7553-1526-X , pp. 650 f .
16. ^ "Atherton is new Halifax assistant" (BBC Sport)
17. ↑ Glenda Rollin, Jack Rollin (Eds.): Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2008-2009 . Headline Publishing Group, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7553-1820-9 , pp. 652 f .