Peter Atherton (born 6 April 1970) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is assistant manager of

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Coventry City, Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford City. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Wigan Athletic and Birmingham City before finishing his career with non-league Halifax Town. He was capped once at England U21 level. Since retirement he has worked as assistant manager of Halifax Town before returning to Wigan Athletic as a youth team coach. He was appointed assistant manager of

Barrow Barrow may refer to: Places England * Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria ** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area ** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency) * Barrow, Cheshire * Barrow, Gloucestershire * Barro ...

and later followed manager Ian Evatt to

Early life

Atherton 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 scored his first Premier League goal on the 27th November 1994 – a "freakishly spectacular 40-yard" volley for Wednesday in the televised 1-1 draw at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. 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 The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

, however, Atherton was unable to play as he was cup-tied. 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 Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

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

in July 2018. On 1 July 2020, he was appointed as the assistant head coach of

, following Barrow head coach Ian Evatt to the University of Bolton Stadium. After the departure of Director of football Tobias Phoenix on 11 December Atherton's role was changed from Assistant head coach to assistant manager.

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1990–91 Third Division

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atherton, Peter 1970 births Living people English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Wigan Athletic F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Footballers from Wigan Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Men's association football utility players Bradford City A.F.C. managers Wigan Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Barrow A.F.C. non-playing staff English football managers Halifax Town A.F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff