Jason McAteer is coming!
- Liverpoolfestivalen
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Energy Bomb is visiting this year's Liverpool Festival and is ready to share their stories!
Liverpool supporter!
Jason McAteer was born and raised in Birkenhead, across the Mersey from Liverpool city. He grew up a Liverpool supporter, but the road to becoming a Liverpool player took a little longer than rowing across the river and turning up at the academy.
His career began at Merseyside-based non-league club Marine before moving to the US to work for his uncle. There he eventually won a scholarship to play college football in Ohio. Visa problems meant he had to return to Merseyside to play for Marine's reserve team. While he was waiting for a visa, former Liverpool player and legend Phil Neal came along. He was the manager of third division club Bolton and offered him a short-term contract. It was a footballing adventure, and within three seasons the central midfielder helped Bolton to promotion to the Premier League.
In for John Barnes
We'll make the story shorter than it is and fast forward to the 1995 League Cup final. Steve McMananman scores two goals and extinguishes Bolton's dream of silverware. Liverpool manager, Roy Evans, had seen a bombshell in Bolton's midfield. Liverpool needed a player like that and when the 1995/96 season kicked off, Jason was playing in all red.
His debut came on 16 September 1995 when he came off the bench and swapped places with John Barnes. McAteer was a regular in the team from 1995 to 1997, but never got to lift any trophies with the club even though the opportunity was there in 1996 when they lost 0 -1 in the FA Cup final against Manchester United. The goal scorer was Ray Keane, and you will hear more about the story of the rivalry between the two during the festival.
Broke the leg
Jason lost his place in the starting eleven at the start of the 1997/98 season, but fought back in November 1997 and played regularly until he broke his leg against Blackburn on the final day of the season in January 1998. When Roy Evans was pushed aside to allow Houllier to take full control of the team in November 1998, McAteers was more or less history, as far as playing in all-red was concerned.
After his time at Liverpool, McAteer joined Blackburn Rovers for £4 million, helping Rovers to promotion to the Premier League in the 2000/01 season. He then moved to Sunderland, where he was part of the team that was relegated from the Premier League in 2003. Sunderland released him a year later, and he joined his fifth and final English club, Tranmere Rovers. Rovers manager Brian Little made McAteer team captain, and a year after he left, he became assistant manager to John Barnes at the club. They will meet again at the 2026 Liverpool Festival!
Why did he play for Ireland?
Jason was born in England and could therefore play for England. He was also a candidate for selection, but the guy felt that he really wanted to play for Ireland. An Irish-born grandfather made it possible for him to choose which country he wanted to represent, and he chose Ireland. He won 52 caps for the Irish national team. The highlight of his career was when he scored the winning goal in the 67th minute at Lansdowne Road in September 2001, when a ten-man Ireland team beat the Netherlands and more or less secured a place in the 2002 World Cup.
We're creating a little piece of Liverpool in Gjøvik!
The whole idea for the Liverpool Festival came from a group of local supporters in Gjøvik who had a strong desire to create a festival that combined good music with being a supporter of the world's best club. This year we are doing it for the fifth time. We grow a little every year and experience that supporters from more and more countries are coming to us. The most important thing for us is first and foremost to create a good community and an arena to meet and share the passion for Liverpool FC. Welcome to Gjøvik from July 30 to August 1!
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