He played as an amateur for Portsmouth in 1950/51, then as a part-time professional for Bristol City while qualifying as a quantity surveyor until signing full-time ahead of the 1958/59 season.

[2] He went to Berkley Primary School, near Frome, Somerset after his parents had moved the short distance over the county line to Standerwick when he was about six months old.

[5] He enjoyed a fifteen-year career with Bristol City despite offers from Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and AC Milan which were worth around £20 million in today's money[6] and could have made him the most expensive player in England.

[5] He died at home in Warminster of heart failure on 8 June 1993, survived by his wife Ruth and five children: Julie, Carol, Alison, Linda and Philip.

Atyeo made his Football League debut at centre forward in the opening game of the 1951–52 season in a 3–1 win v Newport County on 18 August 1951.

[10] Bristol City started the season poorly, Atyeo failed to score in the opening three matches at centre forward and moved to inside right for the remainder of his league appearances.

[9] Atyeo netted his first league double in a 5–1 win v Walsall on 7 March 1953 and played in front of a crowd of 35,606 in February in the 0–0 draw with Bristol Rovers at Ashton Gate.

Jack Boxley became the regular left winger while Alec Eisentrager, Jimmy Rogers and Ernie Jones tussled for the position of outside right.

Andy Micklewright newly signed in May 1953 from Bristol Rovers quickly made his presence felt playing in several positions across the forward line and ending the season as 2nd top scorer with 16 goals.

Atyeo was most prolific in mid season scoring 17 goals in a 20 match spell between the end of September and 20 February 1954 when he netted his first hat-trick for the club in a 5–1 win v Swindon Town.

Atyeo also scored in a series of first team friendlies arranged throughout the season which saw the likes of Fenerbache, Chelsea, Hajduk Split and Arsenal visiting Ashton Gate.

[10] In the absence of Rogers, Eisentrager returned briefly before England international outside right Arthur Milton was signed by Pat Beasley for £4,000 from First Division Arsenal for a cameo 14 appearances in the promotion run in.

Milton gave up football in the summer of 1955 to concentrate on cricket with Gloucestershire as a consequence of which Arsenal refunded half of the transfer fee paid by Bristol City.

The 70 points (when it was 2 for a win and 1 for a draw) obtained by Bristol City equalled the record for the Third Division South set by Nottingham Forest four years earlier.

There were no new names in the Bristol City team that took the field in the opening game a 2–1 win v Swansea Town on 20 August 1955 which was the Second Division debut for Atyeo.

Atyeo played at inside right throughout the season with Eisentrager as his regular right wing partner until Pat Beasley signed Wally Hinshelwood for £15,000 from Reading in February 1956.

Atyeo had a productive first half of the season scoring 20 goals in his first 19 games as the "Robins" stormed to the top of the table in mid November and remained at the summit until Christmas Eve.

However, in mid November manager Pat Beasley sold both centre forward Jimmy Rogers and left winger Jack Boxley to Coventry City.

Doherty was quick to sign inside right Bert Tindill from Doncaster Rovers for £6,400 on 3 February and seven wins in the last 12 games lifted the "Robins" to safety and a 17th-place finish in the Second Division.

Atyeo was the only ever present player with 42 appearances and ended as leading scorer with 23 goals including a hat-trick in a 3–0 win at Sheffield United.

In the FA Cup the 5th round tie v Bristol Rovers at Ashton Gate drew a crowd of 39,160 but resulted in a 3–4 defeat to the local rivals.

Nine of the team appeared in 37 or more league matches with a line up of Cook; Hopkinson, Thresher; McCall, Williams, Burden; Hinshelwood, Tindill, Atyeo, Etheridge and Watkins.

This had City fans dreaming of a return to the First Division as the "Robins" remained in contention for promotion through to January when 6th in the table before falling away to a final 10th-place finish.

The 1–1 home draw had attracted 42,594 fans to see an ageing Stanley Matthews confronted by the City left back Mike Thresher.

[10] Bristol City started 1959–60 poorly despite the club record fee signing of left wing pairing Malcolm Graham and Johnny McCann from Barnsley for a combined £20,000 with Bert Tindill leaving in the opposite direction.

Other additions of left half Tommy Casey from Newcastle United and inside forward Tommy Cavanagh from Doncaster Rovers together with the return of Jimmy Rogers from Coventry City all gave City fans hope of a good season but by mid September the side were bottom of the table and between 21 November 1959 and the end of the season the "Robins" never rose above the two relegation places eventually being relegated as 22nd and bottom of the table.

Two local Bristol boys Brian Clark and Roger "Lou" Peters who had both made their debuts in the final game v Brentford in 1961–62 were given increased chances at inside right and outside left respectively.

The familiar line up was Gibson; Briggs, Thresher; Parr, Connor, Low; Derrick, Clark, Atyeo, "Shadow" Williams and Hooper.

[10] After an initial 2–5 defeat at Scunthorpe United Bristol City embarked on a remarkable run of six matches winning 5–1, 5–1, 4–0, 5–0, 4–0 with a 2–2 draw at Watford sandwiched in between.

In his final game in Bristol City colours on 10 May 1966 v Ipswich Town, Atyeo scored a further two goals in a 4–1 win in front of a rather meagre 13,893 crowd.