Dele Adebola

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Dele Adebola
Personal information
Full name Bamberdele Adebola
Date of birth June 23, 1975 (1975-06-23) (age 32)
Place of birth    Lagos, Nigeria
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position Winger / Striker
Club information
Current club Bristol City
Number 35
Youth clubs
Crewe Alexandra
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1992–1998
1993–1994
1994
1998–2002
2002
2002–2003
2003–2008
2004
2004
2008–		 Crewe Alexandra
→ Bangor City (loan)
→ Northwich Victoria (loan)
Birmingham City
→ Oldham Athletic (loan)
Crystal Palace
Coventry City
→ Burnley (loan)
→ Bradford City (loan)
Bristol City		 122 (39)
004 0(2)
00? 0(?)
128 (29)
005 0(0)
039 0(5)
163 (31)
003 0(1)
015 0(3)
016 0(6)   

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 1:21, 27 April 2008 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Bamberdele "Dele" Adebola (born June 23, 1975 in Lagos) is a Nigerian footballer, who plays as a striker for Bristol City.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Arriving in England as a small boy with his family, Adebola was brought up in Liverpool; as a schoolboy, he played in the same representative sides as Robbie Fowler. When offered a YTS place by Liverpool, the team he supported, he believed that trying to progress as a fellow left-footed striker at the club at the same time as Fowler would not be a good idea. Consequently he accepted a similar offer from Crewe.[1]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Crewe Alexandra

He made his first team debut in the 1992-93 season in the Third Division at the age of 17, and in the following season gained experience by playing on loan at Bangor City in the League of Wales and Conference side Northwich Victoria. He made a significant impact for Crewe in 1996-97, his 16 goals proving crucial in the club's gaining promotion to the First Division.

He soon proved himself capable of scoring goals at that level, and attracted interest from several bigger clubs.[2] Disappointed when Crewe rejected an offer for him from West Ham, he made it clear to the club that he wanted to leave, and reluctantly the club made him available for transfer.[3] In February 1998 Adebola was signed by manager Trevor Francis for fellow First Division club Birmingham City for a fee of £1 million.

[edit] Birmingham City

With seven goals in the remainder of that season, and scoring in each of his first five matches (in all competitions) in 1998-99, his future at Birmingham looked bright. In his first full season he scored 13 goals, but in 1999-00 he was less productive, fell out of favour, and at the end of the season was put on the transfer list. Las Palmas, newly promoted to La Liga, announced that they had signed him,[4] only for the move to fall through on medical grounds.[5]

Though remaining on the transfer list, he was restored to the first team, and his goals helped Birmingham to reach the 2001 League Cup final.[5] The manager said he kept him on the transfer list in order to provoke him into the sort of performance commensurate with his power, pace and technical ability but which his "laid-back" character might otherwise inhibit.[6]

A serious knee injury,[7] sustained later that season when the player slid into a goalpost, effectively marked the end of his Birmingham career. A spell on loan at Oldham towards the end of the 2001-02 season helped him back to fitness, but new manager Steve Bruce chose not to renew his contract.

[edit] Crystal Palace

He played one season at Crystal Palace under former manager Trevor Francis, where he proved his fitness, making 48 appearances in all competitions.

[edit] Coventry City

Again released at the end of that season, Gary McAllister took him to Coventry City, where he initially failed to find any form, finishing the season out on loan to Burnley, ironically a club that had been keen to buy him before his injury.[8][7]

Another loan spell followed, this time at Bradford City where he scored three goals.[9] It was only when recalled to the Coventry side on a regular basis in 2004–05, first under Peter Reid and particularly under Micky Adams, playing with the likes of Stern John and Gary McSheffrey that his form picked up. Even though Adebola failed to score a huge amount of goals, he became a fan favourite at Coventry, and most fans were sad to see him leave.[citation needed]

[edit] Bristol City

On 30 January 2008, Adebola moved to Bristol City for an undisclosed fee,[10] despite Coventry wanting to renew his contract, which would end in the summer. Adebola made his debut for Bristol City on 2 February in a 3–0 defeat to Queens Park Rangers[11] but scored in just seven minutes on his home debut to help Bristol City defeat Sheffield Wednesday 2–1.[12]

[edit] International career

In March 1998 new Northern Ireland manager Lawrie McMenemy, on discovering Adebola to be a British citizen born abroad and therefore eligible to play for any of the home countries, selected him for his first match in charge, a friendly against Slovakia.[13] Adebola had to withdraw due to injury, but did express an interest in playing for the country.[14] He was also selected in Nigeria's provisional squad for the 1998 world cup, but failed to make the cut.[15]

Both Northern Ireland and Nigeria continued their pursuit of the player; in October 1998 McMenemy reported that he was unwilling to play for Nigeria, and did not want to commit to Northern Ireland because he had his sights set on playing for England.[16]

In March 1999 McMenemy made a final abortive attempt to persuade him to play for Northern Ireland.[17] Despite his lack of form at club level, he was however still sufficiently highly rated by the Nigerian selectors to be included in the preliminary squad for the 2000 African Cup of Nations[18] and, following talks with coach Jo Bonfrere, in the squad for a World Cup qualifier in July 2000.[19]

However he again failed to accept any of these invitations.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Jon Culley. "Adebola out to upstage an old idol", Independent, 2001-02-24. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  2. ^ "Sky Blues watching Adebola transfer race", 4thegame.com, 1997-11-05. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  3. ^ "Adebola set to move on", Messenger Newspapers, 1997-11-07. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  4. ^ "Shock as Adebola quits", BBC Sport, 2000-07-01. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  5. ^ a b "Adebola looking forward to a Blue final", ESPN Soccernet, 2001-01-09. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  6. ^ "Francis wants Burchill permanently", BBC Sport, 2000-12-13. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  7. ^ a b "Clarets target's injury shock", Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 2001-05-04. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  8. ^ "Francis wants to keep Clarets target Adebola", Lancashire Evening Telegraph, 2000-11-25. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  9. ^ Adebola extends Bantams loan deal. BBC Sport (13 October 2004). Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
  10. ^ "Bristol City sign striker Adebola", BBC Sport, 31 January 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-03. 
  11. ^ "QPR 3-0 Bristol City", BBC Sport, 2 February 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-03. 
  12. ^ "Bristol City 2-1 Sheff Wed", BBC Sport, 9 February 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-10. 
  13. ^ "N Ireland shock as McMenemy picks Nigerian", Irish Independent, 1998-03-13. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  14. ^ David Anderson. "Adebola to miss Slovakia clash", Irish Examiner, 1998-03-24. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  15. ^ "Player profile", Crewe Alexandra F.C.. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  16. ^ David Anderson. "McMenemy scours leagues for talent", Irish Examiner, 1998-10-09. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  17. ^ David Anderson. "McMenemy is ignoring Germany in crisis claims", Irish Examiner, 1999-03-25. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  18. ^ "Sports Digest", Irish Examiner, 1999-12-14. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 
  19. ^ "Adebola called into Nigeria squad", BBC Sport, 2000-06-30. Retrieved on 2007-04-02. 

[edit] External links

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Bristol City F.C. – current squad

1 Basso • 2 Orr • 3 McAllister • 4 Fontaine • 5 McCombe • 6 Carey • 7 Murray • 8 Noble • 9 Brooker • 10 Carle • 11 McIndoe • 12 Myrie-Williams • 14 Skuse • 16 Keogh • 18 B. Wilson • 20 Betsy • 21 Artus • 22 Weale • 23 Trundle • 24 Ribeiro • 25 Elliott • 26 J. Wilson • 27 Walker • 29 Sproule • 30 Plummer • 32 Henderson • 33 L. Johnson • 35 Adebola • Manager: G. Johnson
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