malek Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Will always remember quiz in one of those old Match or Shoot magazines. What type is your favorite footballer ? They put in David Beckham as example of a global superstar, Mikkel Beck as an example of overpaid foreigner and Peter Atherton representing underated and dependaple performer. Always liked Peter Atherton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinburghowl Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 He was in between bang average and a solid performer. Albeit probably closer to the bang average level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brightonowl Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 As a few have said, he was competing with memories of Nilsson and Sterland and was never gonna come anywhere near either of them. The amount of floaty diagonal balls from around the half way line to opposition’s defenders or keeper used to drive me mad, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dronfield_SWFC Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 At one stage he had the most premier league appearances which summed up how reliable he was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystic Neg Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 I'd argue that if he was called Pedro Arteta with the same abilities many would remember him more fondly and have been more excited by him at the time! Peter Atherton is a name for a presenter on Gardeners World not a solid premier league defender. Ian Nolan falls into the same category. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthefish2002 Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Peter Atherton was a limited player but strangely this made him more effective as he knew this and never tried to be something he wasn't. Was a solid bread and butter player who played at a time when our fortunes were going south so its difficult for him to remembered fondly by some people. Nearest similar player we had over recent seasons is Semedo who is considered by some to be a club legend but out of the two Atherton was comfortably a better player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
York_Owl Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 12 hours ago, struckanerve said: The bigger shame was never finding a top quality centre back to play alongside Des Walker. We had one, Pearson, but Francis sold him for next to nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJMortimer Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 12 hours ago, pat blondeau said: Can still remember watching that live on sky on the Sunday afternoon game. No one expected that from Atherton and he never did anything like that again! I remember him scoring from 20 yards past Peter Schmeichel at Hillsborough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspector Lestrade Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Decent player but never one to take us to the next level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthefish2002 Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, DJMortimer said: I remember him scoring from 20 yards past Peter Schmeichel at Hillsborough. Are you sure it was 20 years out? I can remember he scored v Man U from a header at Leppings Lane end about 8 yards out. Edited May 22, 2020 by matthefish2002 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJMortimer Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 15 minutes ago, matthefish2002 said: Are you sure it was 20 years out? I can remember he scored v Man U from a header at Leppings Lane end about 8 yards out. I'm absolutely certain it was 20 "years" out. But I think it might have been Tottenham now. It was a night game and at the Leppings Lane end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wilyfox Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Always felt we were more solid and resilient with Atherton in the team. Won't dazzle anyone with skill, but a versatile defender like Hutchinson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archieswfc Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 17 hours ago, lanzaroteowl said: Sound bloke anawl. Watched Man Ure win the European Cup with him and his family in the bar. Think he was still captain then. In your bar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lanzaroteowl Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 21 minutes ago, archieswfc said: In your bar? Yes mate. I also tried to get him to join us in our weekly kick about but he said he wasn't allowed. Not sure if that was from the Club or his Mrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanharper Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 17 hours ago, struckanerve said: His high point for us was marking Steve McManaman out of a game at Anfield, which I believe we won 1-0. Can't be a bad player to mark a prime Steve McManaman out of a match at their place. He didn't come across as captain material to me; bit like Tom Lees at present. The bigger shame was never finding a top quality centre back to play alongside Des Walker. Odd thing about Atherton is that if he's mentioned these days people refer to that game at Anfield. Yet those of us who were at the game didn't even notice him, he only got the plaudits from the manager's praise in the press a couple of days later. If we hadn't won the match his job on McManaman probably wouldn't have ever been mentioned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest freerole Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 17 hours ago, sexpistol said: Fast forward to 2:58 I was at the game and it was unbelievable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 17 hours ago, katie melua said: When Big Ron came back in for his second spell, he knew what to do with the defence. He could see that defensively, we were all over the show and I include Atherton in this Des Walker was the only decent defender we had from the days where we once had Nilsson, Anderson, Pearson and Worthington. Ron saw this and went and signed Andy Hinchcliffe, Emerson Thome, Earl Barratt and Goce Sedloski. Atkinson was also hoping to sign Matt Jackson from Everton during the summer but Richards gave him the boot before that deal could be completed. He was hoping to move Nolan, Atherton, Briscoe on during the summer as well as a lot of others Atkinson was also hoping to bring in a couple of midfielders as well, we were hoping to sign Gary Speed but he went to Newcastle in the end. I think he was looking at Steve Stone from Nottingham Forest from memory Richards decided no and that was that. The defence might have needed addressing but Ron's approach that you refer to didn't exactly sort things out. Hinchcliffe was a good player but injuries took their toll. Barrett won 2 of the 10 matches he played for us under Atkinson in 1998, Sedloski wasn't a success and Matt Jaskson - who left Everton in 1996 - didn't play a Premier League game between 1997 and 2005 so was hardly going to be a game changer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torryowl Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 he won player of the year here ,twice at wigan and at Coventry , over 350 games in the top flight( mainly in the prem ) .and a career that lasted 20 years with 600 games . …….you cant have a career like that and be a poor player as a few are claiming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest struckanerve Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 7 hours ago, alanharper said: Odd thing about Atherton is that if he's mentioned these days people refer to that game at Anfield. Yet those of us who were at the game didn't even notice him, he only got the plaudits from the manager's praise in the press a couple of days later. If we hadn't won the match his job on McManaman probably wouldn't have ever been mentioned! Fair enough, i watched it on MOTD. I've only seen us at Goodison (not Anfield), for a 2-2 and when Di Canio rounded the keeper for a 1-3 win with Big Ron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluesteel Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 I remember him doing some class man marking jobs on Mcmanaman in midfield Scored some vital goals for us. Just wasn’t as good as the man before him but better than most if not all since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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