Adebayo Akinfenwa: ‘I was told I was too big for football and I’ve played for 22 years’

think I’m technically unemployed, so any managers, hit me up on WhatsApp,” were Adebayo Akinfenwa’s words in a live television pitch-side interview after scoring at Wembley toto League One with AFC Wimbledon six years ago – a come-and-get me-plea if there ever was one – and so it seems fitting that one of the game’s household names will return there for one last kick, one last dance, to bring down the curtain on 22 years as a professional.

After celebrating a season of firsts upon promotion to the Championship two years ago, this week has marked a series of lasts. A final training session on Friday. A last overnight stay. One more pre-match meal. “Always chicken and gravy,” he says. “Maybe a bit of toast. I won’t miss that. I eat plantain, curry goat and jollof rice at home, so I’ll enjoy that. It’s only at football that I’ll eat chicken at 11 o’clock in the morning.

He does not know how he is going to fill his weekends but is adamant he will stay in shape. He has been given a degree of freedom by his manager, Gareth Ainsworth, permitted to train with his teammates only a couple of times a week. “I’m a creature of habit. I do 47 minutes on the bike every morning. I try to burn 850 calories before training five days a week. That is my routine and that sets my day. That’s my ‘me time’ to sweat out any tension and I’ll continue to do that. I enjoy the gym.

Akinfenwa has been derided over the years and hopes his journey can act as inspiration. “I am unapologetically myself,” he says. “Being who you are is the most powerful thing that we own as individuals. Some people will say: ‘He’s built like a rugby player, he’s built like a wrestler, I don’t get all the hype around him.

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