Mark Nigel Atkins (born 14 August 1968) is an English football manager and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He was primarily a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

but started out as

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

in a career that lasted from 1986 until 2004, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

where he won the title in 1995. He also played in the Football League for Scunthorpe United,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

and

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

. Later on his playing career, Atkins was brielfly appointed as caretaker manager at both Doncaster and Shrewsbury, and in 2008 he was appointed as manager of non-league side

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was established in 1878 as Matlock Football Club.< ...

, a position he held for six years.

Playing career

Atkins was an integral part of Blackburn's rise from the old Second Division to

champions in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. He joined Rovers for £45,000 from Scunthorpe United in 1988, being then relocated to

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, and staying in the team despite the big investment in new players from owner

Jack Walker Jack Walker (19 May 1929 – 17 August 2000) was a British industrialist and businessman. Walker built his fortune in the steel industry, amassing a personal fortune of £600 million. He then went on to become the owner and benefactor of Black ...

. His part in Rovers' championship success is often understated, with many falsely believing that

David Batty David Batty (born 2 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Batty played for Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. Whilst with Leeds he was part of the team that won the ...

formed the strong midfield partnership with

club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...

Tim Sherwood Timothy Alan Sherwood (born 6 February 1969) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. As a player, he was a midfielder from 1987 until 2005, notably as captain of Blackburn Rovers' Premier Leag ...

in that team. In fact, a foot injury kept Batty out until the final five matches and Atkins proved to be an unlikely hero for Blackburn, playing 34 matches and scoring six goals in the title season, including important ones against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

. Atkins moved on from Rovers soon after the club's championship success, joining First Division

in September 1995 for £1million. He was a first choice player throughout his time at Molineux as the club fought to reach the

. He reached the play-offs with the team in 1996–97 but they lost 3–4 on aggregate to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, despite Atkins scoring in the return leg to give them a 2–1 win. After four seasons with Wolves, Atkins was released in 1999, joining

in the fourth tier on a three-month contract. After leaving this expired, he had an unsuccessful trial at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, before training with Conference side

, who subsequently offered him a deal. He remained at Doncaster for the next two seasons, and served as joint caretaker-manager (with

Dave Penney David Mark Penney (born 17 August 1964) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, Penney entered professional football at the relatively late age of 21. He had been working as a bricklayer and ...

) for the final five fixtures of the 1999–2000 campaign after the sacking of

Ian Snodin Ian Snodin (born 15 August 1963) is an English football manager, former professional player and sports analyst. As a player he was a midfielder, notably playing in the top flight for Leeds United and Everton, appearing in the Premier League f ...

. Atkins returned to a purely playing role during the next season, which ended with him being loaned out to

for the run-in. He helped the club reach the Third Division play-offs, but was denied a

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

final by

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

's 2–1 aggregate triumph. He joined

in July 2001, enjoying a decent ninth-placed finish to his first season at

Gay Meadow Gay Meadow was the home ground of Shrewsbury Town football club in Shropshire, England. Just outside the town centre, on the banks of the River Severn, it opened in 1910. The ground closed at the end of the 2006-07 Football League season and t ...

. The 2002–03 season was one of mixed fortunes for the ''Shrews'', from the highs of runs to the fourth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

and area final of the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

to the lows of seven successive defeats, resulting in relegation to the Conference.

Coaching & management career

Shrewsbury manager

Kevin Ratcliffe Kevin Ratcliffe (born 12 November 1960) is a Welsh former professional footballer who spent most of his career playing for Everton. Club career Ratcliffe was born in Mancot, near Queensferry in Flintshire, Wales. He joined Everton as an appren ...

resigned with one game remaining of the season, and Atkins took charge of the team as they attempted to restore some pride in a home encounter against his original club Scunthorpe United. However, the ''Shrews'' succumbed to a 2–1 defeat, and Atkins left at the end of the season. He continued his playing career for one more season, at

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...

level with

, also serving as their coach, before hanging up his boots for good in 2004. Atkins remained assistant manager at Harrogate, but both he and manager John Reed left for Stalybridge Celtic in January 2005, from where they were later sacked in April 2007. He was appointed manager at Northern Premier League outfit

, on 18 November 2008. He resigned along with assistant Nick Buxton on 4 October 2014 after a 4–0 defeat to Halesowen Town left Matlock Town joint bottom of the league. He is now a summarisor for

BBC Radio Lancashire BBC Radio Lancashire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lancashire. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Darwen Street in Blackburn. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly aud ...

Honours

Blackburn Rovers *

: 1994–95

References

External links

*
Detailed Premier League Record
at EPLInfo.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkins, Mark 1968 births Living people Footballers from Doncaster English footballers Association football midfielders Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players York City F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players English football managers Shrewsbury Town F.C. managers Doncaster Rovers F.C. managers Matlock Town F.C. managers