Neil Atkinson (born 21 January 1981) is a Liverpool-based writer, broadcaster and film producer.[1][2] He is the host,[3] Content Manager,[4] and one of the main writers and business developers[5] behind online football and culture magazine The Anfield Wrap[6] which has had more than 28 million podcast downloads worldwide. Atkinson has presented sell-out shows of The Anfield Wrap in London, New York, Toronto, Melbourne, Ireland and Scandinavia, as well as on stage at the Sound City Festival in Liverpool.[7][8][9][10] Atkinson co-wrote and co-produced[11] the film Native, which had a theatrical release in the UK in 2018 and won the feature film award at the 2016 Boston science fiction festival.[12] Described as "smart" and "elegant" by Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.[13] Kim Newman in Empire magazine described it as "ambitious, unusual and thought-provoking".[14] In The Times, Ed Potton wrote that it was a "script full of promise, with provocative things to say about empathy, obedience and individualism".[15]
Atkinson is a regular Radio City Talk presenter and won the Football Supporters Federation 2016 national radio show award.[16] He runs his own Liverpool-based production company, Film1st, and hosts music podcast The Rider.[17] Atkinson has guested as a punter on The Totally Football Show discussing Liverpool Football Club's 2019–20 Premier League title triumph,[18] and Liverpool's 5–0 win at Old Trafford over Manchester United on 24 October 2021.[19]
Formerly a chairman for Spirit of Shankly,[20] he has contributed to New Statesman discussing the social impact of tragedies[21][22] and has appeared on BBC Breakfast, Football Focus, BBC Radio 5 Live, BT Sport and Sky Sports, during which former Manchester United defender Gary Neville described Atkinson as "a better pundit than me".[23]
He co-wrote the 2014 book Make Us Dream with John Gibbons about the 2013–14 Liverpool F.C. season[24] as well as Numero 6 in 2019, about Liverpool’s 2018–19 season culminating in their 2019 UEFA Champions League Final victory, their sixth European Cup triumph.[25] In August 2019 with Michael MacCambridge Atkinson began Red Letters, a weekly correspondence about the Liverpool Football Club for the Liverpool Echo’s American website, which is being edited into a book.[26] Atkinson has also written for newspapers such as newspapers such as The Guardian, The Independent the Liverpool Echo on Liverpool FC related topics.[citation needed]
In 2024, he authored the book Transformer: Klopp, the Revolution of a Club and Culture.[27]