Adebayo Akinfenwa, AKA The Beast, was a player that was seen as a joke by many football fans in his early days of playing, mostly because of his size.
He was always mocked by many fans during match days, they shout out different hurtful things at him. He was always called 'fat' and was always said to be very slow and sluggish on the field of play, and he always had different chants hauled at him, he said his favourite chant was 'you're just a fat Eddie Murphy' but he will prefer 'you're just a Muscular Eddie Murphy' 🤣.
He was always doubted by many, time and time again, but he never seem to give in to their talks. He was rejected by many clubs, but that didn't stop him from working hard and pursuing his dream of playing football.
The hate and the doubts he got never really got to him in a negative way, instead he converted their hate into positivity and drove himself forward, which could always be seen on the pitch and also in his interactions with fans.
Adebayo Akinfenwa went on to shut all his haters up, proving to them that 'size does not matter', he worked so hard on the field of play which gained him a lot of recognition in the world of football. He was named the strongest man in football by FIFA with a strength rating of 99.
His hard work and strong dedication made him win a lot of club career trophies and achievements which are :
[ ] Lithuanian Football Cup: 2000/01 winners
[ ] Welsh Cup: 2002/03 winners
[ ] Welsh Premier League: 2002/03 winners
[ ] Swansea City Football League Trophy: 2005/06 winners
[ ] AFC Wimbledon Football League Two play-offs: 2016 winners
[ ] Wycombe Wanderers EFL League One play-offs: WINN
He played very big roles in leading his team to win different trophies and qualifying for bigger leagues, his most outstanding is with Wycombe Wanderers, where he helped them qualify for the EFL Championship for the first time in 133yrs.
His impressive performances also awarded him a lot of individual awards, like the:
[ ] EFL League Two Player of the Month: November 2012
[ ] PFA Team of the Year: 2017/18 League Two
[ ] EFL Team of the Season: 2017/18
[ ] Northampton Town Player of the Year: 2009/10
[ ] Torquay United Player of the Year: 2004/05
[ ] AFC Wimbledon Player of the Year: 2014/15
[ ] Wycombe Wanderers Player of the Season: 2016/17 and 2017/18
He also has ridiculous career goals which tallies to 228 goals. His ridiculous work rate really paid off on his career, he has proven his class to the world of football, bagging lots of trophies and banging hundreds of goals, and now he is ready to hang his football boots at the end of the season, ending an impressive career in style. Adebayo Akinfenwa will go down as a legend in the game of football, happy football retirement in advance Bayo, always keep the Beast Mode on😊.