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James Crawley

James Crawley writes

Posted Friday, June 8th 2018

Fans to remember John Atyeo

Friday, June 8th 2018

Supporters will gather outside Ashton Gate to pay their respects to the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, John Atyeo, on the 25th anniversary of his passing.

Today (Friday, June 8th) marks a quarter of a century since Atyeo’s death at 61 years of age.

He was a prolific striker and arguably City’s greatest-ever player, who joined the BS3 side on a part-time basis alongside his work as a quantity surveyor in 1951.

He signed on full-time terms for the 1958/59 campaign before reverting to part-time status in 1963/64 in order to prepare for his post-football job as a mathematics teacher.

Of his 15 seasons at Ashton Gate, Atyeo scored 20-plus goals in 11 of them, ending his City career with a total of 351 goals to his name.

Wiltshire-born Atyeo also held the record for most City appearances (645), until this was surpassed by Louis Carey in December 2013 (646).

Atyeo bagged five goals in six caps for England, who never lost while he was on the field. He notably scored the goal which secured qualification for the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden - although he was never selected for the tournament.

Atyeo playing for England

Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and AC Milan reportedly all made approaches for Atyeo's services but he remained loyal to City.

Atyeo formed part of the 1954/55 Division Three (South) title-winning squad, scoring 28 times. 

Ten years later he fired 31 goals and captained the team as City finished runners-up in Division Three.

Atyeo sadly passed away on June 8th 1993 from heart failure. The club subsequently named the newly-built stand at the open end of Ashton Gate in his honour the following year.

In 2016 a statue of Atyeo was unveiled at Ashton Gate following a Supporters Club & Trust-led project.

Fans will congregate next to the Atyeo statue at 11am today.

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