| Ian Atkins |
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PLAYING CAREER His first club, whom he joined as an Apprentice in January 1975, was Shrewsbury Town . In seven years at the club, he made 279 appearances and scored 58 times. In August 1982, he signed for Sunderland staying with them for two years, before joining Everton in October 1984. His stay with Everton lasted just one year, and in September 1985 he left them for Ipswich Town In the three years he was at Town he played 77 matches and scored four goals. He joined and left Birmingham City in March 1998, going from there to Colchester United . After three years at Colchester, he again joined Birmingham staying for a year, before signing for Cambridge United After a short spell at Sunderland he ended his playing days at Doncaster Rovers . MANAGERIAL CAREER 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 . Atkins was assistant manager to Alan Cork at Cardiff City from November 2000 to December 2001, and helped them win promotion as Division Three runners-up at the end of the 2000-01 season. 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 scored a record low of 21st place in the final table. Atkins reorganised the team during the 2002 closed season and the new-look squad looked capable of achieved 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. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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