Atkinson began his career with Sunderland and played in the 1992 FA Cup Final.

After 141 appearances he lost his first-team place in 1996 and was loaned to Carlisle United.

Later in the year he joined Darlington where he remained until his retirement from professional football in 2002.

His thirteen-year playing career brought almost 400 League and cup appearances and six England caps at under-21 level.

He made his debut coming on as a substitute for Mark Blake in a friendly against Wales in December 1991 at Prenton Park.

He was also part of the England under-21 team that won the 1991 Toulon Tournament beating the hosts, France 1–0 in the final.

Atkinson had a brief spell working for Darlington’s centre of excellence before spending five seasons as assistant-manager of Northern League Division One club Newton Aycliffe.

He was appointed assistant-manager at Spennymoor Town in February 2012 and took up the corresponding role at Darlington 1883 (now Darlington) three months later.

Atkinson stepped up to take charge of first-team affairs in October 2017 following the resignation of manager Martin Gray.

This role was short-lived, and in November 2017, he re-joined Gray at York City as match-day analyst.