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. please log in to view this image 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. https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/fans-to-remember-john-atyeo/
My all time favourite, the greatest player ever to play for Bristol City in my time watching my beloved team...RIP Big John.
I have just posted on another thread how we need a local hero and Big John was the epitomy of that genre. My best memory of him was watching him arrive at the ground on his bike and giving me his autograph which instantly made him my all time hero. Lovely man on all levels.
Don't know if any of you have read his biography "The Hero Next Door". It's a great read (and, to be fair, I don't read that much!) and really gives an insight into a totally different world of sporting culture than we see today. Younger members on here may be gobsmacked by some of the things that he did/put up with but that was the man it seems! The last thing he did for England was to score the goal (in the 90th minute) against The Republic of Ireland that secured the 1-1 draw that took the national side to the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. The Munich Air Disaster occurred early in 1958; when putting together the England World Cup squad, the selectors left places empty, presumably out of respect for those Man U players that would have been picked. It has been suggested that as John Atyeo was still a part-time player (can you imagine that these days!!) at that stage, the selectors would not pick him despite places being available!! He must have one of the highest goals to games ratio in an England shirt and was never on the losing side, but nothing is ever said about him in the context of the National side. I think that is truly sad!
I will certainly read that book Reliant and I suspect that I won’t find any references to him owning a Bentley or having a hot-tub.
