[6] He was captain of the club during his stint with Town, making 77 league appearances, although he could not help prevent Ipswich being relegated from the First to the Second Division.
[9] The onus was on Atkins to regain immediate promotion back to the Football League from the Conference, Colchester having been relegated the previous season.
The club remained full-time in their first season outside the Football League since 1950, as the U's finished in second place, two points behind Barnet and missing out on promotion much to the dismay of the United chairman Jonathan Crisp.
[8][10] In December 1992, Atkins took the managers position at Cambridge United, but spent just six months with the club, unable to prevent them from relegation.
Atkins was approached to succeed Steve Beaglehole as manager of Doncaster Rovers in January 1994, making seven appearances as player-manager.
[13] Despite leading the Cumbrian side to safety from relegation in Division Three, Atkins was threatened with being sacked by owner Michael Knighton.
[15] Atkins left Carlisle to become assistant manager to Alan Cork at Cardiff City in July 2001,[16] but was sacked in October.
[18] 2001–02 was Oxford's first season in the bottom division of the Football League for over 30 years, and they finished a record low 21st place in the final table.
[citation needed] Atkins was suspended in March 2004 and then dismissed the following month for talking to Bristol Rovers about the possibility of taking over as manager,[19][20] which he subsequently did.