I threatened my AFC Wimbledon team-mates for Steven Gerrard’s shirt

EFL legend Adebayo Akinfenwa has advised William Hill’s Stripped Podcast that he threatened his AFC Wimbledon team-mates so as to pay money for Steven Gerrard’s Liverpool shirt throughout an FA Cup recreation, whereas he additionally made an association with former Swansea team-mate Joe Allen to make sure he secured his idol’s jersey.  

Akinfenwa revealed the anecdote on William Hill’s Stripped Podcast, a brand new sequence wherein ex-footballers are invited to make a journey down reminiscence lane by revisiting the favorite shirts of their careers.  

Choosing the Liverpool shirt he obtained from Gerrard after Wimbledon’s 2-1 FA Cup loss in 2015, Akinfenwa stated: “I advised everybody that I used to be going to get Gerrard’s shirt. I beloved my Wimbledon team-mates however I threatened them. I received’t sugar-coat it. I stated, ‘if any of you ask for Stevie G’s shirt, there’s going to be an issue.’ I performed with Joe Allen at Swansea, who was at Liverpool on the time, so I gave him a name and organized it prior.  

“I stated, ‘inform Stevie that the massive man needs his shirt.’ And he textual content me again saying: ‘Stevie says he’s bought you.’ I advised the Wimbledon boys will probably be a straight-up misunderstanding for those who take his shirt. However Stevie was a person of his phrase and we embraced afterwards, after which I confirmed the world that he gave it to me.” 

Akinfenwa – who additionally performed for the likes of Wycombe, Swansea and Northampton – added that just a few years after their first assembly on the pitch, Gerrard went on write the foreword in his autobiography.  

“That was the primary time I met Stevie G,” he stated. “The connection between Liverpool and myself has stayed robust. I’ve goosebumps speaking about it, I really feel humbled. It’s thoughts boggling, Stevie G wrote the foreword in my e book, and he doesn’t actually do this. He put a paragraph firstly of my autobiography and needed to put in writing it personally. Typically people get their publicists to put in writing it, however he needed to do it personally. Folks don’t realise how massive that’s.  

“One of many biggest moments of my profession was when Wycombe bought promoted to the Championship, and Jurgen Klopp despatched me a private congratulatory message. This stuff are synonymous in my coronary heart and have performed a serious half in my profession.” 

Wimbledon misplaced the FA Cup recreation 2-1, with Gerrard scoring each targets for Liverpool.  

“Folks ask who the very best participant I’ve performed towards is. It’s Stevie G,” Akinfenwa stated. “And never simply because he’s my idol, it’s as a result of, 20 minutes into that recreation, it appeared like he had simply determined, ‘I’m bored now, let’s go and rating.’ He picked the ball up on the midway line, put it out broad, bought within the field and headed it in. That’s what it felt like.” 

Akinfenwa added: “Later Stevie had a free-kick, and as I walked previous him, as he’s placing the ball down he says, ‘sorry massive man.’ I have a look at him like no matter. He places the ball down and bends it over the wall. The second purpose of the sport, they win 2-1, and I miss the possibility to return to Anfield.” 

Akinfenwa is lifelong Liverpool fan and it was John Barnes who helped encourage him to turn into a Purple, although he admits he might have turn into an Arsenal fan had Ian Wright been on the membership on the time.  

“My older brother was the one which helped me get into soccer,” Akinfenwa stated as he mentioned the 1988/89 Liverpool shirt. “He was a Liverpool supporter and I bear in mind watching John Barnes. It’s humorous as a result of now I play nothing like him, or a minimum of within the skilled recreation I used to be nothing like him. However after I was youthful I used to dribble, I used to drop the shoulder, however then my legs bought greater and I couldn’t match into the shorts the best way they used to put on them again within the day! However they have been the explanations: John Barnes and my brother.” 

Akinfenwa added: “If Ian Wright had come earlier, he would have been the rationale why I might have been an Arsenal supporter. I’ve a lot admiration for him, I believe he’s a legend on and off the pitch. I really like every part he did, his character and his lust for all times and the sport. When he scored a purpose, it was leisure. I positively took that on board. If he had come earlier, there might have been an opportunity that I might have ended up an Arsenal supporter. I’m glad although, I couldn’t do with the stress they undergo!” 

Akinfenwa went on to talk about his Nigerian heritage as he mentioned Nigeria’s 1994 World Cup shirt, stating that he would select to play for the Tremendous Eagles over England, although that wouldn’t have been the case earlier in his profession.  

He stated: “Should you have been to ask me proper now I’d say Nigeria as a result of I’m comfy with who I’m, and what I’ve learnt as I’ve bought older is every time I could make my dad proud, that’s what I need to do. It will be his title, his nation, I might need to go and play for Nigeria and make him proud. However a younger 21-year-old Akinfenwa that’s solely watched the Premier League would have thought I need to play for England as that was the best way up.” 

Akinfenwa added: “I used to be born in London, however I’m of Nigerian descent. You must always remember what you’ve been, the place you’ve been, who you might be and your heritage. It’ll ceaselessly play an enormous half in who I’m.” 

In a wide-ranging interview, Akinfenwa additionally touched on his experiences of taking part in in Lithuania for FK Atlantas early on his profession, the place he needed to cope with racism from supporters.  

“I went on the market and boy was it a watch opener,” he stated. “We discuss psychological power, and on the time, I didn’t count on to must undergo this, however I shortly found that I used to be the one black particular person within the league and one of many few within the metropolis. Within the first recreation I performed, over a thousand folks have been singing racist chants. I used to be shocked, it was residence and away followers. It was a small stadium, so that they have been proper up on the sidelines. It was horrifying. I went out within the second half, and so they saved going. I made a decision to come back off, and so they all began cheering like I’d scored. 

“After the sport, I bought on the cellphone with my older brother and stated I’m coming residence. I bear in mind he stated, ‘don’t keep anyplace you don’t need to, however bear in mind, for those who depart, they win.’ On the time, these phrases didn’t imply something to me, however I slept on it and, name it divine intervention, the subsequent day I made a decision no person was kicking me out of anyplace.”