As it turned out, the very first Premier League season back in 1992-93 would be remembered most for the brilliance of Eric Cantona rather than Dalian Atkinson. It was so nearly a very different story, though.
Aston Villa were Manchester United’s closest challengers for the crown in the new division’s first season, with Atkinson and Dean Saunders firing the goals which had Sir Alex Ferguson’s side sweating for most of the campaign.
“I still believe if Atkinson hadn’t got injured at Christmas we would have won the first Premier League in 1993,” insists then-Aston Villa boss Ron Atkinson. “We were flying at the time and he missed a big chunk.”
Dalian would go on to score one of the goals in Villa’s 3-1 League Cup final victory over an otherwise invincible United the following season, but it is his 1992-93 form which will immediately spring to mind for most supporters following the news that the former striker has died at the age of 48.
After showing promise in his younger days with Ipswich Town, he was first snapped up by his namesake Ron for Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1989. In a team leaking goals with regularity, Atkinson’s 15 goals alongside an equally-prolific David Hirst kept them in with a great chance of survival only for a late slump of five defeats in six games to send the Owls down on goal difference.
Following relegation, Big Ron recommended Atkinson to his former club Real Sociedad, but by the time the notorious manager left Hillsborough for Villa Park he knew Dalian was ready to return to England despite a positive spell in the Basque country and quickly snapped him up for his new side.
Under the new-found spotlight of the Premier League’s TV revolution, Atkinson became known for his skilful and powerful centre-forward play in equal measure. Alongside Cantona and Mark Hughes, Saunders and Atkinson were arguably the most fearsome strike force in the business as Villa went as close to winning a title as at any time since their 1981 success. Only injury robbed him of the chance to help push United all the way.
Wonderful Atkinson goals continue to be regularly played on YouTube. The jinking run and finish for Wednesday against Liverpool, the explosive drive to beat Wednesday with Villa, and most particularly the 65-yard slalom run and chip over the goalkeeper against Wimbledon which won Goal of the Season awards by a country mile and induced a memorable celebration.
With Saunders on his back holding an umbrella passed by a fan, Atkinson shrugged to the Villa fans. He knew as much as they did that something special had just happened, but that this was now the norm for him and for their club. How Villa could do with a talent like his right now.
He reacted brilliantly to a Saunders pass in the following season’s League Cup final to open the scoring in the 3-1 win over United but it turned out to be the beginning of the end for that team, with Big Ron sacked soon after and both Saunders and Atkinson sold in the summer of 1995. Dalian’s career entered a journeyman phase, with spells in Turkey, France, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and even a short loan period with Manchester City.
But whenever packages are put together of the early Premier League days Atkinson always features heavily, and rightly so. Many still talk about Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham, Matt Le Tissier and Ian Wright. Yet for a long spell during those embryonic Premier League days Dalian Atkinson was arguably the best English forward there was.
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