John was an outstanding footballer conforming to the image of the ideal striker - tall and athletic, capable of outjumping opposition defenders to head goals; possessing good ball control and powerful shooting skill.

At the time of his selection for 'B' and full international teams England were experimenting with a twin centre forward attacking strategy as was successful with Lawton and Mortensen. John played alongside Tommy Taylor ...... There can be no doubt that John was well liked as a personality by the England players selectors and myself ....

When John Atyeo was playing for England, I didn’t think he was international class. Now having worked with him at Bristol, I consider Atyeo capable of reaching a standard, even now, which would put him among the game’s greats.

John Atyeo, the Bristol City and England inside right, is another fine example to youngsters. By nature he is a goal-scorer, and almost an auxiliary centre forward. He has speed and accuracy of shooting, and excellence in the air to suit the part.

By dint of much hard practice he has developed the ability to make goals as well. During our match against Brazil, particularly in the first half, he took over the role of foraging inside forward, when our movements left Johnny Haynes stranded upfield with the advance forwards. He did the job so well that the gap was adequately covered. He is the best possible answer to those young footballers who imagine that if you score goals you are not expected to make openings.

 

 

I remember his first appearance for England v. Spain, Nov 30th 1955 when we won 4-1.

The forward line that day at Wembley was:

Finney Atyeo Lofthouse Haynes Perry

and the scorers were Finney, Perry (2) and Atyeo.

Happy days! John was always a force to be reckoned with big, strong, hell of a shot in both feet and really took a hell of a lot of pressure up front off me.

A real nice guy and a person I had the privilege of meeting and playing in the same England side.

During the short time I played with John, I always found him to be a strong, forceful and skilful player and a prolific goal scorer, particularly strong in the air.

John was I know content to stay with Bristol City and resisted the pressures to go full time and maybe move to a more fashionable club.

There were fewer international matches and smaller squads in those days so to be part of the England set-up meant an awful lot more, given that a lot of players were competing for places. (They don't criticise players today, it's always about managers.)

John was a very nice man and played in my last England game in Copenhagen - I remember we sat next to each other on the plane because we shared a fear of flying!

I last saw him at a boxing evening in London for my 70th birthday.

I played many times both with and against "Big John" for England and in Fulham v. Bristol City games. My most vivid memory was when with about 2 minutes left he rammed a perfect centre from Tom Finney like a bullet into the Republic of Ireland's net for our late equaliser.

This being a World Cup qualifying game at Dalymount Park and for the remainder of the game you could have heard a pin drop. "Big John" had done it again!

The book ..... should serve to remind people of a fine sportsman and a top class striker.

I remember John as a tall, lean striker built perfectly for his position and always able to challenge tall bulky centre halves in the air to score many goals with his head. He was of course very good technically in the air - an excellent header of the ball and had the courage in the box to go with it, plus positional sense.

John was a team player not just a goal-taker and, from the little I saw of him, led the line well and utilised his footballing ability to bring other players into the game. He was a footballing centre-forward, had a strong forceful shot and his ground work together with good movement made him more than a difficult opponent and not one easy to control.

I would think he would have been easy to have played with. He had no complications in his game and a great foil for a different type of player to play alongside and I feel it would have been easy to have built up a double striking partnership.

John I believe was a hero in the Bristol area, much loved liked and respected by the locals, in a different time and maybe a different area - a hero nationally.

I remember John very well. He was tall and dark and did his job, which was to score goals, superbly well!

John was a great striker of the ball and something of a gentle giant. Despite his size he didn't "put himself about" although he had terrific strength especially when in possession of the ball.

But his goal scoring record speaks for itself, and to think he won caps while playing for what was then not one of the more high profile clubs says a lot about his commitment.

His goals came simply because he had the skill and the temperament needed at the vital time. He never got ruffled and that plus his control of the ball were the attributes that earned him respect around the football world.

I had left Bristol when John came on the scene, but had the pleasure of seeing him play many times. There was just the one occasion we played on the same team. We were both selected to play for England v. Scotland in a Football League representative match at Hampden.

The Scotland trip was a trip that always stayed with me because I was playing with John a Bristol lad and could see how good he was ..... John was liked by all and very good company, his playing standards speak for themselves and held the respect of many in the game of football.

If I say that John was an enemy, I have to emphasise that this this only occured on the football field when we met playing against each other. Off the field we were very good friends and later when we worked for the Spastics Charities together, we became great friends.

On the football field John was a Bristol City player and gave everything he could towards the future of the club. He lived and breathed for the City, the game of football and always gave 100% all the while remaining a gentleman on and off the field.

I only had the pleasure of playing with John once, against the R.A.F, for an England Eleven. We were later to play against a Brussels team together but I received my second serious leg injury and couldn't play. I had an idea that there were thoughts in the England camp that we would have made a good striking force playing together. It would have given us both great pleasure if this had happened and we often talked about what might have been.

We used to talk about the brand of football that was played in our day, the money we got for it against how they play they play today and the rewards for their efforts. We used to talk to a lot of the older Pro's about the game. I think the general feeling of us all was we would have liked the money they are getting today, but would not have changed the way the game was played in the 50s and 60s. Those days we both remembered very well and enjoyed them to the full.