Former Manchester City striker Dalian Atkinson has died in Telford aged 48 after being tasered by police. He spent one season at what was then Maine Road, before returning to Fenerbahce at the end of his loan spell.
Atkinson came to Manchester towards the end of his career, but before that had been a reasonably successful player in the First Division and then the Premier League, being particularly well-remembered for his time with Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa in the early 1990s.
Despite being born in Telford, the striker’s break came with Ipswich Town in the 1980s, scoring 12 times for them to earn a move to Hillsborough with The Owls in 1989. He only remained with them for one season, and moved on to Real Sociedad after 12 months despite 38 First Division games in Sheffield.
Aston Villa soon brought him back to England, and before long he was playing in the Premier League, formed in 1992. He went on to win Match of the Day’s Goal of the Season award in the inaugural year for a goal against Wimbledon, and formed a good partnership with Dean Saunders.
In 1995, Atkinson left Birmingham and moved to Turkey with Fenerbahce, but struggled to settle into life in Istanbul, being loaned out despite 10 goals in 21 league appearances for the club. He joined Metz, before spending some time in 1996-97 at Maine Road; City were to be his final English club, and he made eight league appearances for The Blues, scoring twice.
Atkinson was tasered by police officers near his home on Monday according to The Guardian, and failed to respond to subsequent medical attention.
