Jason McAteer

Bolton Wanderers

McAteer was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire (now Merseyside). His family were shaken by the closure of the shipyards in the 1980s, and he began the 1990s in a state of unemployment. McAteer got his big break aged 20, at local non-league team Marine, when impressing for Marine Reserves against the Bolton Wanderers A team in 1992. He had no contract with Marine, and Bolton purchased the young midfielder for £500 plus a large bag of footballs. He made his first-team debut against Burnley in a Division Two game at Burnden Park on 28 November 1992, finishing on the winning side in a 4–0 triumph. He made a total of 21 appearances in the 1992–93 season for Bolton, who finished the season as runners-up and secured promotion to Division One. Bolton were FA Cup quarter-finalists in the 1993–94 season and achieved a comfortable position in Division One. During the 1994–95 season, Bolton reached the final of the Football League Cup (their first appearance in a major cup final for 37 years), but lost 2–1 to Liverpool. McAteer and his colleagues returned to Wembley the following month on 29 May 1995, as they reached the final of the Division One playoffs having finished third in the league. Their opponents on this occasion were Reading. Reading took a 2–0 lead in the first half and led the match until the 86th minute when Bolton scored a late equaliser to make the game 2–2 and force extra-time. Bolton went on to win the match 4–3 after extra time, and McAteer was…

McAteer was deemed eligible to qualify to play for Republic of Ireland through a grandfather who was born in County Down. In February 2024, he said that before playing for the Republic of Ireland, he had never been there, nor was he sure he was of Irish origin. Believing that his Irish ancestor was a great-grandfather, he was instructed by the Football Association of Ireland to choose a random McAteer from County Down of an appropriate age to be his claimed grandfather, in order to achieve an Irish passport. Before pledging his international career to the Republic of Ireland, McAteer had been tracked for the England B team alongside his Bolton teammate Alan Stubbs. He reflected in 2024 that choosing the Republic of Ireland was the better decision, as Stubbs was never capped for England at senior level. McAteer also had a Welsh grandmother who asked him to play for their national team. McAteer was capped 52 times between 1994 and 2004 making his debut on 23 March 1994 in a 0–0 draw against Russia in a friendly match at Lansdowne Road and was selected by manager Jack Charlton for the Republic's 1994 World Cup squad. McAteer came on as a substitute in the Republic's 1–0 group stage victory over Italy on 18 June. McAteer played in his second World Cup in 2002. He scored a goal for the Irish in a 2–2 draw against Netherlands in Amsterdam on 2 September 2000 qualifying and the winner in a 1–0 win against them on 1 September 2001. These two results ultimately contributed to the…

McAteer has regularly appeared for the Liverpool legends who play in various charity games around the world. In March 2005, he recruited friends from football and showbusiness for Tsunami Soccer Aid which generated over half a million pounds for Save the Children, helping survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In May 2008, he visited Banda Aceh in Indonesia to see how the money had been used. In 2006, McAteer became an investor in Golf Punk magazine, alongside former Sunderland teammates Phil Babb, Michael Gray, Thomas Sørensen and Stephen Wright, saving the publication from closure. In April 2011, while participating in a charity football match between Darndale F.C. and Liverpool/Manchester United Legends in aid of Autism Ireland, McAteer clashed with Dublin GAA goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton. Cluxton punched McAteer and knocked him to the ground. Cluxton and McAteer were both sent off. McAteer regularly appears as a pundit on beIN Sports. He has worked in the media for Asia-based ESPN Star Sports. He has also worked on LFC TV.

McAteer was nicknamed "Trigger", after an Only Fools and Horses character of low intelligence. He said in 2005 that he cultivated this image in order to play more matches, as managers would be comfortable putting him in different positions. Anecdotes spread about McAteer's purported low intelligence, including that he had asked for a pizza to be cut into four pieces and not eight because he was not hungry; he confirmed in 2005 that this story is true. McAteer released an autobiography, Blood, Sweat & Jason McAteer, in 2017. In it, he said that he struggled with depression and thoughts of suicide after his football career ended. McAteer married his first wife, Kristina Delaney, at Slane Castle in 2001. In October 2013, he married Lucy Edwards in Limerick with the reception at Dromoland Castle. McAteer said that while he was at the 2022 UEFA Champions League final with LFC TV, his wife and 22-year-old son were assaulted and robbed amidst the chaos.

Endorsements

McAteer featured in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he was on the cover for the International edition of FIFA Soccer 96, alongside Frank de Boer. In 1997, McAteer featured in a Wash & Go shampoo advert, for which he was reportedly paid £100,000.