Ade Akinbiyi

Ade Akinbiyi

Personal information
Full name	Adeola Oluwatoyin Akinbiyi[1]
Date of birth	10 October 1974[2]
Place of birth	Hackney, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Playing position	Forward
Youth career
	Senrab
1991–1993	Norwich City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1993–1997	Norwich City	49	(3)
1994	→ Hereford United (loan)	4	(2)
1994	→ Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)	7	(4)
1997–1998	Gillingham	63	(28)
1998–1999	Bristol City	47	(21)
1999–2000	Wolverhampton Wanderers	37	(16)
2000–2002	Leicester City	58	(11)
2002–2003	Crystal Palace	24	(3)
2003	→ Stoke City (loan)	4	(2)
2003–2005	Stoke City	59	(17)
2005–2006	Burnley	39	(16)
2006–2007	Sheffield United	18	(3)
2007–2009	Burnley	70	(10)
2009	Houston Dynamo	14	(0)
2009–2010	Notts County	10	(0)
2013–2015	Colwyn Bay	2	(0)
Total		505	(136)
National team
1999	Nigeria	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Adeola Oluwatoyin "Ade" Akinbiyi (born 10 October 1974) is a former Nigerian footballer who played as a forward.

Akinbiyi has had a much-travelled career with many different clubs with transfer fees totalling more than £11.5 million during his career, including being Leicester City's record signing (at £5.3 million).^[3]

Born in England, Akinbiyi qualifies to play for the Nigeria national football team through his parents, and earned one cap for Nigeria.

Club career

Early career

Akinbiyi began his career as a trainee at Norwich City, where he worked his way up into the first team in 1992. He made his début on 3 November 1993 as a substitute against German giants Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup. The match ended 1–1, meaning that Norwich won the second round tie 3–2 on aggregate and went on to face Inter Milan, who eliminated them.^[4] He was loaned to Hereford United and Brighton & Hove Albion before completing a £250,000 move to Gillingham in 1997. He scored 29 goals in 67 league and cup games for the Gills and was quickly transferred to newly promoted Division One side Bristol City for £1.2m.

Big money moves

Akinbiyi's stock continued to rise and after scoring 21 goals for Bristol City in the 1998–99 season, Wolverhampton Wanderers paid a club record £3.5million for him in September 1999 in an attempt to replace Robbie Keane. He played only one season at Molineux, finishing as the club's top goalscorer with 16 goals but Wolves just missed out on a playoff place.

Ten months after arriving at Wolves, he departed to Premier League club Leicester City for £5.5 million,^[5] a decision he would later regret.^[6] Brought in as a replacement for Emile Heskey (who left for Liverpool for £11 million), he failed to live up to expectations, scoring only 11 goals in 58 league appearances.

His spell at Leicester hit rock bottom in a 4-1 defeat at home to Liverpool. He missed four easy chances, including a miss from six yards in the last minute. He was booed by Leicester fans whose patience with Akinbiyi had run out.^[7] Soon after, he scored his first goal of the season in a crucial 1-0 win at home to Sunderland, which prompted him to say that "hopefully this will start a flood of goals for me".^[8]

Leicester transferred Akinbiyi to Crystal Palace for £2.2m in February 2002.^[9] On arrival he took the surprisingly high number 55 shirt, adding a very small plus sign between the numbers to signify his preferred shirt number, 10, which was already taken. Having scored just one goal in 14 league and cup appearances, he was loaned out to Stoke City in 2003.^[10] He scored twice – the second goal coming in the last game of the 2002–03 season, when the Potters beat Reading 1–0 to retain their second tier status.^[11] He later joined on a permanent basis, on a free transfer in September 2003.^[12] He scored ten goals in 2003–04 and won the player of the year award. In 2004–05 Akinbiyi scored seven goals in 30 matches and was subject to bids from Sheffield United.^[13][14][15] All of Sheffield United's offers were turned down by Stoke but an offer from Burnley was accepted.^[16]

Burnley

Akinbiyi completed a £600,000 move to Burnley in February 2005, but marked his debut by getting sent off within two minutes for head butting Sunderland player George McCartney. After netting 16 times for the Clarets, he moved to Sheffield United for a then club record £1.75 million in January 2006.^[17]

Sheffield United

Akinbiyi scored on his debut for the Blades against Derby County, and endeared himself to fans by scoring in his first Steel City derby at Hillsborough. After winning promotion, Akinbiyi made only five appearances for the Blades in the Premier League in 2006. It was also reported that he was involved in a training ground bust-up with team-mate Claude Davis in October 2006 following a 2–0 defeat against Everton in which Davis had been sent off.^[18]

Return to Burnley

Akinbiyi was soon resold to Burnley in January 2007 for a fee of £650,000 with a further £100,000 to be paid in the summer of 2007.^[19] His second debut for the Clarets was more successful, scoring a goal against top flight Reading in the FA Cup.

During the rest of the 2006–07 season, Akinbiyi was not as successful as during his first spell at Turf Moor, scoring three goals. This was attributed by Steve Cotterill to Akinbiyi having spent too much time in the weights room at Sheffield United and as a result being too bulky.^[20] He was given the number nine shirt for the 2007–08 season but found himself behind Andy Gray and Robbie Blake as a first choice striker. After going back to Burnley, Akinbiyi lacked consistent form, finding goals harder to come by. His hard work and endeavour made him a firm fans' favourite.^[21] During the 2008–09 season, his regular position on the bench was taken by youngster Jay Rodriguez, a player who he had been mentoring.^[21] However, Akinbiyi regained his place on the bench in the fifth round of the League Cup against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and in the 69th minute he scored to make the game 1–1 and take it into extra time. Burnley won 5–4 on penalties. While at Burnley, Steve Cotterill, Burnley's then manager, banned him from the gym. "I wasn’t playing at Sheffield so the only thing I was doing was weights. We didn’t even have reserve games and it was something to do. I put on a bit too much muscle and I lost about a yard of pace", he said. "I try to stay away from the weights room now. I’m sort of addicted."

Houston Dynamo

On 26 March 2009, Akinbiyi was reported to be in talks about a move to the United States to join Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo.^[22] On 30 March, Akinbiyi was officially unveiled as a Houston player.^[23] He made his MLS debut on 3 May, as a late substitute in a game against New England Revolution.^[24]

To make room on the roster for Luis Ángel Landín, the club's first Designated Player, the Dynamo released Akinbiyi on 20 August 2009.^[25]

Notts County

After his release by Houston, Akinbiyi agreed terms with League Two side Notts County.^[3] He made his debut on 17 October 2009 in a 0–0 draw against Rotherham United, coming on as a substitute for Lee Hughes in the 82nd minute.^[26]

On 10 May 2010 it was announced that he had been released by Notts County along with seven other players.^[27]

Free agent (2010-2013)

In January 2011, after 9 months without a club, Akinbiyi was on the verge of joining Newport County in the Conference National. He had been training with Premier League club Stoke City, and was recommended to Newport by Stoke's Newport-born manager Tony Pulis; Pulis had been Akinbiyi's manager at Stoke between 2003 and 2005.^[28] However, Newport subsequently pulled out of the deal.

Akinbiyi spent the next two years as a free agent; having been without a club for three years, he was widely assumed to have retired from football by the time of his signing for Conference North side Colwyn Bay in the summer of 2013.

Colwyn Bay

On 25 July 2013 Akinbiyi joined Conference North side Colwyn Bay as a player-coach, ending his three-year exile from playing football.^[29] He left Colwyn in January 2015.^[30]

International career

Born in Hackney, London to Nigerian parents, Akinbiyi qualified to play internationally for Nigeria, and through his birthplace for England. He was called up on three separate occasions for Nigeria, playing once in 1999 against Greece in London^[31] .

Career statistics

As of 29 July 2013

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other^[A]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Norwich City	1993–94[32]	Premier League	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
	1994–95[32]	Premier League	13	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	16	0
	1995–96[32]	Division One	22	3	0	0	3	2	0	0	25	5
	1996–97[32]	Division One	12	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	14	0
	Total		49	3	2	0	6	2	1	0	58	5
Hereford United (loan)	1993–94[32]	Division Three	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2
Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)	1994–95[32]	Division Two	7	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	4
Gillingham	1996–97[32]	Division Two	19	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	7
	1997–98[32]	Division Two	44	21	2	1	2	0	1	0	49	22
	Total		63	28	2	1	2	0	1	0	68	29
Bristol City	1998–99[32]	Division One	44	19	1	0	4	4	0	0	49	23
	1999–2000[32]	Division Two	3	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	2
	Total		47	21	1	0	5	4	0	0	53	25
Wolverhampton Wanderers	1999–2000[32]	Division One	37	16	3	0	0	0	0	0	40	16
Leicester City	2000–01[32]	Premier League	37	9	4	1	0	0	2	0	43	10
	2001–02[32]	Premier League	21	2	2	0	1	1	0	0	24	3
	Total		58	11	6	1	1	1	2	0	67	13
Crystal Palace	2001–02[32]	Division One	14	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	2
	2002–03[32]	Division One	10	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	14	1
	Total		24	3	4	0	0	0	0	0	28	3
Stoke City (loan)	2002–03[32]	Division One	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	2
Stoke City	2003–04[32]	Division One	30	10	1	0	1	0	0	0	32	10
	2004–05[32]	Championship	29	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	30	7
	Total		63	19	2	0	1	0	0	0	66	19
Burnley	2004–05[32]	Championship	10	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	4
	2005–06[32]	Championship	29	12	1	0	3	2	0	0	33	14
	Total		39	16	1	0	3	2	0	0	43	18
Sheffield United	2005–06[32]	Championship	15	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	15	3
	2006–07[32]	Premier League	3	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	5	1
	Total		18	3	0	0	2	1	0	0	20	4
Burnley	2006–07[32]	Championship	20	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	21	3
	2007–08[32]	Championship	39	8	1	0	3	1	0	0	43	9
	2008–09[32]	Championship	11	0	0	0	4	1	0	0	15	1
	Total		70	10	2	1	7	2	0	0	79	13
Houston Dynamo	2009	Major League Soccer	14	0	0	0	0	0	4	1	18	1
Notts County	2009–10[32]	League Two	10	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
Colwyn Bay	2013-14	Conference North	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career totals			503	136	24	3	27	12	8	1	562	152

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Football League Trophy, CONCACAF Champions League and MLS Cup.

Honours

Stoke City

• Stoke City player of the year: 2004

Burnley

Championship Play Off Winner 2009^[33]

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Mainstream Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
2. Hugman, Barry J. (ed) (2008). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008–09. Mainstream. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8.
3. "Notts County swoop for Akinbiyi". BBC Sport. 26 September 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
4. Winter, Henry (2 November 2001). "On the Spot: Ade Akinbiyi". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
5. "Akinbiyi swaps Wolves for Foxes". BBC Sport. 25 July 2000.
6. "Akinbiyi reveals Leicester regret". BBC Sport. 18 November 2005. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
7. "Fowler returns to finishing school". The Guardian. 22 October 2001. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
8. "First Ade patches up struggling Foxes". The Guardian. 5 November 2001. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
9. "Palace clinch Akinbiyi deal". BBC Sport. 5 February 2002. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
10. "Deadline-day transfers". BBC Sport. 27 March 2003. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
11. "Akinbiyi keeps Stoke up". BBC Sport. 4 May 2003. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
12. "Stoke seal Akinbiyi deal". BBC Sport. 13 September 2003. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
13. "Stoke reject Blades' Akinbiyi bid". BBC Sport. 21 January 2005. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
14. "Stoke reject fresh Akinbiyi bid". BBC Sport. 25 January 2005. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
15. "Blades increase bid for Akinbiyi". BBC Sport. 3 February 2005. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
16. "Burnley beat Blades for Akinbiyi". BBC Sport. 24 February 2005. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
17. "Akinbiyi and Dyer move to Blades". BBC Sport. 26 January 2006.
18. "Akinbiyi and Davis resolve feud". BBC Sport. 27 October 2006.
19. "Burnley re-sign Blades' Akinbiyi". BBC Sport. 1 January 2007.
20. "Ade hit with weights ban". Lancashire Evening Telegraph. 30 January 2007.
21. "Ade Akinbiyi – An appreciation". Clarets Mad. 2 April 2009.
22. Fallas, Bernardo (26 March 2009). "Dynamo close to signing veteran Akinbiyi". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
23. "Soccer for Success Day". Houston Dynamo. 30 March 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
24. Major League Soccer Archived 19 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
25. Major League Soccer Archived 20 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
26. "Rotherham 0 – 0 Notts County". BBC Sport. 17 October 2009. Archived from the original on 21 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
27. "Notts County release eight out-of-contract players". BBC Sport. 10 May 2010.
28. "Akinbiyi joins Newport County". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
29. "Football: the latest football news from across North Wales". Retrieved 13 September 2014.
30. "Sinclair resigns after 5-0 defeat". Colwyn Bay. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
31. "RSSSF 1999 Internationals". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 2 February 2005. Retrieved 10 May 2010.
32. Akinbiyi, AO (Ade), English National Football Archive
33. "Burnley boss Coyle made sure Mahon, Akinbiyi received winner medals — Premiership News — Tribal Football". Tribal Football. Retrieved 13 September 2014.

External links

• Ade Akinbiyi career statistics at Soccerbase
• Ade Akinbiyi Flown from the Nest
• If it's January, it must be time to send for Ade Akinbiyi Times Online, 7 January 2007