ON THIS DAY

2004 – Adebayo Akinfenwa is signed by Leroy Rosenior

Islington-born Adebayo Akinfenwa started out as a youth player at Watford, and then bounced around a number of teams between 2001 to 2004, including five during the 2003-04 season alone! With Torquay United on the look out for a replacement for David Graham, Leroy Rosenior decided to give the muscular striker a chance at Plainmoor, in the hope that he could help United have a successful season in a daunting looking League 1.

Initially Akinfenwa struggled to settle in and with United having difficulty finding results, Leon Constantine was brought in to give the team more firepower. As the season wore on, ‘The Beast’ started to fulfil his potential, scoring against Chesterfield, Sheffield Wednesday and Luton in March 2004, and then following it up with goals against Walsall, Oldham and Blackpool as the team battled valiantly to avoid the drop.

His performances had certainly caught the attention of the Yellow Army, who enjoyed his ability to protect the ball and also show touch and control that helped bring others into the game. A last home game of the season saw United beat Blackpool 2-0, and Akinfenwa named as the Supporters Player of the Year after bagging 16 goals. Safety was within the Gulls’ reach, but an away loss to Colchester dashed our hopes and saw United drop back down to League 2. It was to be Adebayo’s last game for the club.

Swansea City were to be his next port of call, United receiving a meagre 85k for the striker who went onto become a cult hero for a number of clubs over the years, including the likes of Millwall, AFC Wimbledon and Wycombe. He was also named the ‘World’s Strongest Player’ on FIFA, wrote an autobiography and ran a clothing label, amongst various other ventures on TV and Social Media!

A memorable character who made a big impression in one season at the club, manfully tackling the task of replacing a star striker and almost helping to keep us in the League 1 for another year.