Brian Atkinson Football player

Brian Atkinson (born 19 January 1971 in Darlington, England) is an English former footballer who played as a left winger or central midfielder.Atkinson began his career with Sunderland and played in the 1992 FA Cup Final. After 141 appearances he lost his first team place in 1996 and was loaned to Carlisle United. Later in the year he joined Darlington, where he remained until his retirement from professional football in 2002. His 13-year playing career brought almost 400 league and cup appearances and 6 England caps at under-21 level. He made his debut coming on as a substitute for Mark Blake in a friendly against Wales on 5 December 1991 at Prenton Park. He was also part of the England under-21 team that won the 1991 Toulon Tournament beating the hosts France 1-0 in the final.Atkinson had a brief spell working for Darlington’s Centre of Excellence before joining Northern League Division 1 side Newton Aycliffe as coach.He was appointed Assistant Manager at Darlington in June 2012.