Fleetwood Town are greatly saddened to learn of the death of our former player Roy Atherton at the age of 66 following a long and courageous fight against illness.
‘Big Roy’ made his full Fleetwood debut in August 1977, scoring twice on his debut against Golden Eagle in the Blackpool & Fylde Sunday Alliance in what was Fleetwood Town’s first season after reforming, a season in which the club played in local football.
He had however made an earlier brief appearance for the old Fleetwood FC as a substitute during the 1973-74 season in a replayed FA Cup game against Chorley at Highbury.
In total Roy made 119 first team appearances for Fleetwood, scoring 51 goals, and he wore the number 9 shirt in our famous FA Cup 1st Round tie against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road in November 1980.
Roy was a Fleetwood man to his bones, living in the town all of his life. A proud member of our Former Players Association, he will be greatly missed and our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends at this sad time.