Dalian Atkinson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Dalian 'legend' Atkinson | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dalian Atkinson | |
| Date of birth | 21 March 1968 | |
| Place of birth | Shrewsbury, England | |
| Height | 6'0" (1.82m) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1985-1989 1989-1990 1990-1991 1991-1995 1995-1996 1996 1996-1997 |
Ipswich Town Sheffield Wednesday Real Sociedad Aston Villa Fenerbahçe FC Metz (loan) Manchester City |
60 (18) 38 (10) 26 (12) 85 (23) 21 (10) - (-) 8 (2) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Dalian Atkinson (born 21 March 1968 in Shrewsbury, England) is an English footballer who played at centre-forward.
Atkinson is probably most famous for scoring a memorable solo run and superb finish against Wimbledon which won a BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Season competition. He is also famous with Aston Villa fans for scoring in the 1994 League Cup final against Manchester United. He has also played for Fenerbahçe, Real Sociedad, Ipswich Town and Sheffield Wednesday.
Atkinson was one half of the D-men striker partnership at Aston Villa from 1992 to 1995 - the other half was Dean Saunders. The partnership was broken up that summer when both players were sold to Turkish clubs - Dean to Galatasaray and Atkinson to Fenerbahçe SK. But Atkinson failed to settle in Turkey and had loan spells with FC Metz and later Manchester City before leaving in 1997.
In 1996, Shoot magazine jokingly claimed that Atkinson had been linked with Wanda Dalian in China before joining Fenerbahçe. This may have been true, but Shoot even said that Dalian had chosen their name after seeing Atkinson's score the goal of the 1992-93 season. They jokingly claimed that Dalian had considered changing their name to Matt after seeing a wonder goal by Matthew Le Tissier for Southampton during the 1994-95 season!
