Peter Atherton (footballer)

Peter Atherton (born 6 April 1970), is an English former professional footballer who played as both a defender and a midfielder. He was assistant manager at Halifax Town, although on 16 October 2007, he came out of playing retirement to appear for the Shaymen. He is now assistant manager at Bolton Wanderers.

Peter Atherton
Personal information
Date of birth (1970-04-06) 6 April 1970
Place of birth Wigan, England
Position(s) Defender / midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Bolton Wanderers (assistant manager)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1991 Wigan Athletic 149 (1)
1991–1994 Coventry City 114 (0)
1994–2000 Sheffield Wednesday 216 (9)
2000–2005 Bradford City 94 (3)
2001 → Birmingham City (loan) 10 (0)
2005–2008 Halifax Town 14 (0)
Total 598 (13)
National team
1991 England U21 1 (0)
Teams managed
2003 Bradford City (joint caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He was born in Wigan, Lancashire.

Playing career

Most famous for captaining Sheffield Wednesday, Atherton started his career at hometown club Wigan Athletic as a trainee and spent three years there before attracting the attention of Coventry City. Atherton was lured away from Wednesday by Bradford City after relegation on the Bosman ruling where he also spent a spell on loan at Birmingham City. Birmingham reached the League Cup final, however, Atherton was unable to play as he was cup-tied.[1] After being released by Bradford on a free transfer he finished his career at Halifax Town, where injury forced him to retire from professional football after playing only 14 games for the club, but came out of retirement because of Halifax's injury crisis and was named as a substitute for their home game against Grays Athletic on 16 October 2007.

Coaching career

In June 2007, Atherton was appointed assistant manager of Halifax Town, replacing Wayne Jacobs. He had previously been coaching in Wigan Athletic's youth set-up.[2]

He also played for Sheffield Wednesday in their 2006 Masters Football campaign, and Wigan Athletic in 2007.

He became assistant manager at Barrow in July 2018..[3]

On 1 July 2020, he was appointed as the assistant head coach of Bolton Wanderers, following Barrow head coach Ian Evatt to the University of Bolton Stadium.[4] After the departure of Director of football Tobias Phoenix on 11 December[5] Atherton's role was changed from Assistant head coach to assistant manager.[6]

References
  1. "Horsfield bounces back". BBC Sport. 23 February 2001. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
  2. Atherton is new Halifax assistant
  3. "Bluebirds Boss Completes Backroom Line Up". Barrow AFC. 2 July 2018. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  4. "Ian Evatt: Bolton Wanderers name Barrow manager as new head coach". BBC Sport. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  5. The Bolton News: "Bolton Wanderers' football chief Tobias Phoenix steps down from role"
  6. BWFC.co.uk "Ian Evatt’s Job Title Changes To Manager"
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