Ian Atkins

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Ian Leslie Atkins (born 16 January 1957 in Sheldon, Birmingham) is an English professional football manager, and former professional footballer.

[edit] Playing career

Ian Atkins' first club, whom he joined as an apprentice in June 1973, was Shrewsbury Town, turning professional in January 1975. In seven years at the club, he made 279 appearances and scored 58 times. In August 1982, he signed for Sunderland, for a fee of £80,000, staying with them for two years, before joining Everton in October 1984 for a fee of £70,000. His stay with Everton lasted just one year, and in September 1985 he left them for Ipswich Town for a fee of £100,000. In the three years he was at Town he played 77 matches and scored four goals. He joined and left Birmingham City in March 1988 for a fee of £50,000.

[edit] Coaching and managerial career

In the summer of 1990, Atkins was appointed player-manager of Colchester United who had just been relegated to the Conference. Despite being one of the few teams with a full-time squad, Colchester finished runners-up to Barnet. Atkins left Layer Road in June 1990 to return to Birmingham City as player-assistant manager under Terry Cooper.

In December 1992 took over as manager at Cambridge United, but was unable to prevent their relegation and was dismissed in May 1993. He then had a short second spell as a player at Sunderland, before he ended his playing days at Doncaster.

In October 1994 he was appointed manager of Northampton Town. In the 1996–97 season, he guided Northampton Town to promotion by winning the Division Three promotion playoffs. They reached the Division Two playoff final the following season losing out to Grimsby Town.

The 1998–99 season saw Northampton relegated to Division Three—the third season in a row that the previous year's playoff losers had been relegated. Atkins handed in his resignation soon afterwards.

He was appointed manager of Division Three strugglers Chester City in January 2000, but he quit six months later, after the club were relegated to the Conference after 69 years in The Football League. He later had a year-long spell in charge of Carlisle United between June 2000 and July 2001.

Atkins was then assistant manager to Alan Cork at Cardiff City, but in December 2001, he left Cardiff to take over from Mark Wright as manager of Oxford United. 2001–02 was Oxford's first season in the bottom division of the football league for over 30 years, and they finished a record low 21st place in the final table. Atkins rebuilt the team during the 2002 close season and the new-look squad looked capable of achieving a far higher position in the coming season. Oxford United occupied the automatic promotion and playoff places in Division Three for much of the 2002–03 season, but a slight dip in form during the final weeks of the season saw them finish eighth in the final table—one place short of the playoffs. A lively start to the 2003–04 season saw Oxford United leading the Division Three table at Christmas with just one defeat in over 20 fixtures. Atkins was dismissed in March 2004 for talking to Bristol Rovers about the possibility of taking over as manager, which he subsequently did.

Atkins' spell at Bristol Rovers lasted little over a year, but he was sacked after a disappointing start to the 2005–06 season. He returned to management in April 2006 when he was handed the seemingly impossible task of keeping Torquay United in The Football League. However, a run of four straight wins and a draw on the last day of the season lifted Torquay out of the relegation zone, and then Atkins was appointed manager for the following season.

However, on November 27, 2006, Atkins was replaced as manager by former Czech World Cup star Luboš Kubík. Atkins was offered the role of Director of Football, but turned it down.

[edit] External links

• Profile on Pride of Anglia website

Preceded by Mick Mills	Colchester United F.C. Manager 1990-1991	Succeeded by Roy McDonough
Preceded by John Beck	Cambridge United F.C. Manager 1992-1993	Succeeded by Gary Johnson
Preceded by John Barnwell	Northampton Town F.C. Manager 1994-1999	Succeeded by Kevin Wilson
Preceded by Kevin Ratcliffe	Chester City F.C. Manager 2000	Succeeded by Graham Barrow
Preceded by Martin Wilkinson	Carlisle United F.C. Manager 2000-2001	Succeeded by Roddy Collins
Preceded by Mark Wright	Oxford United F.C. Manager 2001-2004	Succeeded by Graham Rix
Preceded by Ray Graydon	Bristol Rovers F.C. Manager 2004-2005	Succeeded by Paul Trollope
Preceded by John Cornforth	Torquay United F.C. Manager 2006	Succeeded by Luboš Kubík