Adebayo Akinfenwa was unashamedly jubilant post-match interviews.One of the few treats of post-lockdown football was to see Wycombe clinch an unlikely promotion at Wembley.
Akinfenwa bubbled and fizzed in his inimitable way, posing his own questions and knocking out the answers a split-second later, high on the thrill of his ascent to the Championship in the twilight of his career.
Then he told Jurgen Klopp to ‘hit me up on WhatsApp’ and the watching Liverpool boss could not resist such enthusiasm. He asked Jordan Henderson to find a number and promptly called.
“It all just came pouring out,’ smiles Akinfenwa as he recalls the triumph, that interview and the message from Klopp. ‘I was caught up in the emotion because, you know what, we did it.”
“At 38, I realised how long and hard I had worked to get there. I remember losing the play-off final with Swansea when I was 24 and thinking, “Don’t worry, next season we’ll get to the Champ”.
“It took me 14 years. This time we got over the line and there was an outpouring because at the start of the season they were predicting we would finish below Bolton, who were starting with a 12-point deduction.”
“It was nice to say, “We didn’t need your belief because we believed”, and all these emotions came out, but I couldn’t remember anything until I watched it.”
“The only thing I was sure I said was the Klopp line. It is humbling to know the manager of the club I supported all my life sent a message and now I have his number. So, if I need to chat to the best manager in the world, or the second best because Gareth Ainsworth is probably reading this, I will message him.”
It was Wycombe boss Ainsworth who phoned after Akinfenwa’s post-match interview at Wembley in 2016. The striker had just scored in his last game for AFC Wimbledon and was celebrating a League Two play-off final victory when he said: “I’m technically unemployed, so any managers, hit me up on WhatsApp.”
Ainsworth has made Akinfenwa the inspirational talisman at Wycombe and channelled his natural exuberance into building the spirit which fuelled their rise.
He also made sure the centre forward signed a new one-year contract after promotion, despite his age and a knee operation which rules him out of the opener against Rotherham on Saturday.
‘There is not one game this season we are expected to win,’ said Akinfenwa. ‘That plays into our hands: the underdogs. The fixtures came out and we were going, “Woah, Derby, Forest, Sheffield Wednesday”. It is beautiful. We will do it our way. Bring our sauce. Our sauce is our weight. The aim is to consolidate in the league but that doesn’t mean we can’t make a noise.’
