Peter Atherton has had a distinguished career that has taken in both ends of the footballing ladder.

Atherton started out at Third Division Wigan Athletic- making his debut for the club in February 1988. He stayed at his hometown club for two and a half years making 149 appearances in the heart of defence, scoring the once before Midlands side Coventry City purchased him in the summer of 1991 for £300,000 and took him to the top flight.

Atherton stayed at Highfield Road for three seasons in which he helped Coventry stave off relegation by two points in his first season and then into the top half in his third season. He made 114 appearances for the Sky Blues before Sheffield Wednesday paid £800,000 for him in the summer of 1994.

Atherton would enjoy six years at Hillsborough making 216 appearances, scoring nine goals and Atherton played under five managers whilst at Wednesday. The final one being Paul Jewell who sent him to Jewell's old club Bradford in the summer of 2000 after the Owls were relegated from the Premier League. Funnily enough Bradford had survived relegation that year by three points, courtesy of a last day win over Liverpool

Atherton was not so lucky in 2000-2001 as The Bantams finally succumbed to relegation, finishing bottom of the Premier League, a massive 16 points off safety. Atherton spent three seasons in Division One with Bradford but was relegated again with them in 2003-2004, this time 15 points off safety.

Atherton spent only one season in League One with The Bantams helping them finish 11^th. He made 94 appearances for Bradford scoring three goals, and also spent a 10 game spell on loan at Birmingham in 2001.

Atherton finished his career with the Shaymen, signing in July 2005, but he made only 14 appearances in a season where Halifax reached the Conference play-offs before retiring through injury. He did briefly come back to make a substitute appearance at home to Grays in October 2007.

In total Peter Atherton made 681 career appearances and scored 13 goals. He also picked up one England U21 cap in 1991.

Rob Miles