Robert Guy Atkinson (born 29 April 1987) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a defender. Atkinson started his professional career with Barnsley in 2004, and then spent time on loan with Scarborough,

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration (law), administration in ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

. Following three loan spells with Grimsby he joined the club on a permanent basis in 2009 before signing with

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed ...

two years later. He later played for

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete histor ...

before dropping into Non-League football in 2015 and has since turned out for

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits ...

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former ho ...

Spennymoor Town Spennymoor Town Football Club is a football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, in the North East of England. They currently compete in and currently play their home matches at The Brewery Field. The club began playing in the Northern L ...

and

Grantham Town Grantham Town Football Club is a football club, based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the South Kesteven Sports Stadium. History The club was established in 1874 as Grantham Football Club.

. He has also been capped twice by the

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

football team.

Club career

Barnsley

Born in

North Ferriby North Ferriby is a village and civil parish in the Haltemprice area of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. History Humber Estuary "The archaeology of the intertidal wetlands of the Humber Estuary is of international importance, and include ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

, Atkinson has come through the youth ranks with Barnsley, making his debut on 6 March 2004. In the 2005–06 season he had a six-month loan spell with Scarborough playing 22 league games. He was also loaned out to

during the 2006–07 season. After some impressive performances, Atkinson was recalled to Barnsley following injuries to first team players

Bobby Hassell Robert John Francis Hassell (born 4 June 1980) is an English former footballer who played for Mansfield Town, Barnsley and Bharat FC in I-League as a defender. He is currently an Academy Manager at Barnsley. Career Mansfield Born in Derby, ...

Paul Reid Paul Reid may refer to: * Paul Reid (footballer, born 1968), English football player * Paul Reid (soccer, born 1979), Australian soccer player * Paul Reid (footballer, born 1982), English football player * Paul Reid (writer), American writer for C ...

and

Antony Kay Antony Roland Kay (born 21 October 1982) is an English semi-professional footballer who plays as a defender or midfielder for Cymru Premier side Bala Town. He began his career with hometown club Barnsley, and made his first-team debut in Aug ...

. Atkinson played his first full game for the

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports development in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used primarily by Barnsley Football Club for playing their home fixtures, and those of their reserves. While the name 'Oakwell' generally refers to the main ...

based club on Boxing Day 2006, in a 1–0 win over

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

. In this game, Atkinson's performance earned him the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award.

Grimsby Town

Rob Atkinson was initially signed for

on loan in November 2007 by

Alan Buckley Alan Peter Buckley (born 20 April 1951) is an English former professional footballer and football manager who now works as a sports co-commentator for BBC Humberside. As a player, he was a forward from 1967 to 1987 for Nottingham Forest ...

. He was drafted in as a covering defender, and was slotted in at centre back next to

Nick Fenton Nicholas Leonard Fenton (born 23 November 1979) is an English former professional footballer and head physiotherapist of EFL League One side Burton Albion. As a player, he was as a defender who played between 1996 and 2014. He played for Manc ...

. He scored his first goal for the club against Chester City on 1 January 2008. Atkinson went on to play he full 90 minutes at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

final defeat against

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. Th ...

. Atkinson was singled out by Grimsby fans, as one of their more stronger players in the 2007–08 season, and in May 2008, Buckley revealed his desire to bring Atkinson back to the club on loan or possibly on a permanent deal. However at the time, nothing came of the transfer, and after Buckley signed centre backs Richard Hope and Matthew Heywood in pre-season, the Atkinson deal became dead in the water. On 31 October 2008 he re-signed for Grimsby on another loan deal, initially until January 2009. Town who were now managed by Mike Newell had signed Atkinson along with

Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala (born 16 February 1982), also known as JP Kalala, is a Congolese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 1999 to 2012. He started his career in France playing for Nice before moving to Grimsby To ...

, who was another former Grimsby player. Both transfers were made in the space of two days. Atkinson made his second debut for the club in a 2–1 defeat to

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington under ...

when he came on as a substitute for skipper Matthew Heywood in the 30th minute of play. In January 2009 Rob's loan contract with Grimsby expired and he returned to Barnsley. However a day later he joined the club for a third spell, signing on an emergency loan deal to play the league fixture with

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), ...

on 10 January. A deal was struck between Barnsley and Grimsby for a permanent switch that was completed two days later. Rob went on to cement a first team place at centre back alongside youngster

Ryan Bennett Ryan Bennett (born 6 March 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre back for EFL League One club Cambridge United. He was a youth product of Ipswich Town but was not offered a professional contract and thus signed f ...

, who had become the club's new captain, replacing Matt Heywood, who had been dropped due to poor performances. Atkinson and Bennett both were integral parts of the Grimsby squad that helped stave off relegation out of the Football League. During the 2009–10 season The Mariners suffered an eventual relegation, bowing out on the final day of the season. Atkinson remained with Grimsby for the 2010–11 season, which was the club's first season in Non-League football in over 100 years. Following a pre-season injury,

Darran Kempson Darran Kempson (born 6 December 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender from 2003 to 2014. He played for Preston North End, Accrington Stanley, Morecambe, Crewe Alexandra, Bury, Shrewsbury Town, Wrexham, Fo ...

, Scott Garner and Steven Watt shared out the two centre half positions until Atkinson returned and was preferred at the back alongside Kempson. He would also be appointed the club's interim captain when club captain

Lee Peacock Lee Anthony Peacock (born 9 October 1976) is a Scottish former professional footballer and head of youth coaching at Swindon Town. As a player, he was a forward and midfielder from 1995 to 2015. Having started his professional career with Car ...

was not selected in the team, but would go on to depart Grimsby in the summer despite being offered a fresh contract by the club's new managerial duo of Rob Scott and

Paul Hurst Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of club Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a defender from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, b ...

Fleetwood Town

Despite being offered a new contract with Grimsby, Atkinson opted to transfer to fellow

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

side

on 10 June 2011. In his first season with the club Fleetwood earned promotion to 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 the first time in their history. The following season Atkinson spent time on loan with

but following a managerial change at Fleetwood he returned to the club and briefly captained the side. It was announced on 7 May 2013, that Fleetwood would not be offering the defender a new contract, and would therefore be released.

Accrington Stanley

On 16 July 2013 Atkinson returned to Accrington, penning a two-year deal.

Non-League

Atkinson joined

following his release from Stanley. In February 2018 he joined

. On 1 July 2018 Atkinson signed for

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

side

. He left the club by the end of the season. On 3 July 2019, Atkinson joined

on a free agent.

International career

On 24 January 2011, Atkinson was called up to the

squad. Atkinson was again called up for England duty to face

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

on 19 May 2011 along with fellow Grimsby defender Scott Garner.

Career statistics

Honours

Fleetwood Town *

: 2011–12

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Rob 1987 births Living people People from North Ferriby Footballers from the East Riding of Yorkshire English footballers England semi-pro international footballers Association football defenders Barnsley F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Spennymoor Town F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players