CHRIS ATHERTON ABOUT TO ACHIEVE ANOTHER FIRST 1d636d

Chris Atherton will achieve another first if selected to play for Glenavon against Linfield on Saturday. It will be his National Stadium debut. The precocious teenager already boasts an impressive list of notable achievements. He is, of course, the United Kingdom and Ireland’s youngest ever senior player. He is also probably the youngest ever to establish himself as a first team regular. gqe

“I am looking forward to the match at Windsor Park,” he said. “It is another big opportunity for me. If I get lots of the ball, there are acres of space to run into. That’s when I am at my best.”

Chris produced a sensational second half display in the 3-1 victory against Crusaders. His to Peter Campbell for the crucial second goal was sublime. “It was a great team goal,” he said. “Davy carried it forward and timed the to me perfectly. I saw that Peter was breaking through on the right and put it in front of him and he finished well.”

Twenty minutes later Chris dispossessed a defender on the halfway line and burst through on the right. His shot beat Johnny Tuffey but bounced back off the inside of the far post. “When I got the ball and could see how open their defence was, I only had one thought in my mind,” he continued. “Afterwards some of the boys said that I should have squared it to Davy [McDaid], but I was confident that I could score myself and went for it. On another night, it would have gone in.”

Atherton feels that he is improving with every match. “The more often I play the more confident I become,” he said. “Starting games in the first team is not as daunting now as it was. Paddy [McLaughlin] tells me to go out, do what I am good at and light up the stadium.”

Chris has been a first-team starter or substitute for virtually the entire season. In October he was a member of the youthful Glenavon side which shocked a full strength Portadown team in the Mid-Ulster Cup. Stephen McDonnell’s eleven defeated Niall Currie’s men 2-1. Atherton scored the first goal. “We played very well that night,” he recalled. “Paul McGovern was on the left, Michael O’Connor was in the middle and I was on the right. Kyron [Wiseman-McGee] and Ben [Wilson] also started.”

The teenager hails from Clonmore on the Armagh-Tyrone border. “It is a small place. There is one road in and one road out,” he said with a smile. He attends Saint Patrick’s Academy in Dungannon, a school with a long-established reputation for academic success and sporting excellence. Earlier this year Chris sat the first part of his GCSE examinations. He gained four A’s and four B’s in a range of subjects which included Maths, English, Business, Physical Education and Irish. He confesses that studying is not his favourite pastime. “It is part of life,” he said. “Having said that, I want to sit my A Levels and, if my football commitments allow, go to University.”

Chris is the youngest of five talented siblings. Odhran, the eldest, has completed a Law Degree and is now a fully qualified solicitor; Ciarrai also has a Law Degree and is working as a paralegal; Lauren is at Queen’s University reading Law; and Kaitlin is studying Economics, also at Queen’s. Chris’s father, Stephen, is a solicitor in Magherafelt and mother, Linda, a playgroup leader and a busy housewife and mother. “I owe everything to my parents,” he said. “They have made so many sacrifices for me.”

It is fair to say that much of what happens in the Atherton house revolves around Chris’s football commitments. His parents are perpetual taxi drivers and his mother a budding dietitian! “They take me everywhere I need to go, and mum makes sure that I eat all the right foods,” he added. “They come to every game I play. They give me so much encouragement.”

Chris, who celebrated his sixteenth birthday two months ago, has been a member of the Glenavon Academy since the age of four. He has excelled at every age level. He is potentially the best player which the Academy has ever produced. “I have enjoyed every minute I have spent at the club,” he said. “The coaches and the players I have played with have all been great. Glenavon is a wonderful place to learn.”

Despite opportunities to move to other academies, he has remained steadfastly loyal. “I have never considered leaving,” he added. “I have always felt valued and appreciated here.”

He is particularly grateful, for the which he has received from Gary Hamilton and Jeff Magee. “Gary and Jeff have been tremendous for me,” he added. “They gave me so much good advice and told me over and over that I can fulfil my dreams.”

In the summer of 2022 Atherton starred in the Academy’s U-14 side which reached the SuperCupNI decider. It lost 3-1 to Charlton Athletic. “That was a great experience for all of the lads,” he recalled. “Getting to the final of such a prestigious tournament was a big achievement.”

In October 2022, at the age of 13 years and 329 days, he made his senior debut against Dollingstown in the BetMcLean League Cup. He set up the final goal in a 6-0 win. His selection attracted huge publicity. “I had been training with the lads for a while,” he recalled. “The night before the match Gary Hamilton phoned my parents and asked their permission to include me. It was very exciting.”

That same month he was invited to visit Chelsea. Last year he formerly entered its youth development pathway. He hopes that further doors will open. “I have been across for coaching every two or three months,” he explained. “Sometimes it has been for a few days, other times for a week and once for over two weeks. The club has been very good to me. It has one of the best academies in the world. I would love the opportunity to be part of it.” The teenager has met John Terry a number of times and, in 2022, was invited into the dressing room after a first team match against Southampton.

“I know that Chelsea has a lot of confidence in me,” he continued. “They think I have the potential to play at a very high level. But I am aware that I still have a lot to learn and will have to work extremely hard if I am to keep progressing.”

Chris has gained no fewer than 15 Northern Ireland international caps at under-15, under-16 and under-17 level. Michael O’Neill is already monitoring his progress. Would he like to be part of O’Neill’s exciting young squad? “It is encouraging to see so many young players in the international team,” he said. “It shows that if you are good enough, you will be given an opportunity.”

He its that, with his frame still developing, he lacks some physicality. However, he is working hard to become stronger. “For the last two years I have been attending one-to-one coaching sessions two or three times each week at The Performance Lab in Cookstown. It is about building up muscle and making me more robust. I am getting stronger, but it will be another year or two before I am where I want to be.”

Despite the huge strides he has already made towards what could be a glittering career, Chris is a pleasant, modest, thoroughly grounded young man. Although not yet old enough to drive a car or vote in an election, he has the maturity and the talent to play a huge role in Glenavon’s exciting bid to climb the Sports Direct Premiership table. “I love pulling on the blue jersey,” he added. “I want to help us to be successful.”