Bamberdele Olusegun Adebola (born 23 June 1975) is a Nigerian retired footballer. Including loans, he has played for 16 clubs in his career, with his longest spells at Crewe Alexandra, Birmingham City and Coventry City.

Early life

Born in Lagos, Lagos State, Adebola was brought up in Liverpool after arriving in England as a baby with his family; as a schoolboy, he played in the same representative sides as

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League. As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...

. 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 Alexandra.

Club career

Crewe Alexandra

He made his first team debut in the

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

season in the

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at the age of 17, and in the following season gained experience by playing on loan at

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

in the Welsh Premier League and

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side

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

. He made a significant impact for Crewe in 1996–97, his 16 goals proving crucial in the club's promotion to the First Division. He soon proved himself capable of scoring goals at that level, and attracted interest from several bigger clubs. Disappointed when Crewe rejected an offer for him from West Ham United, he made it clear to the club that he wanted to leave, and reluctantly the club made him available for transfer. In February 1998, Adebola was signed by manager Trevor Francis for fellow First Division club Birmingham City for a fee of £1 million.

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 1999–2000 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, only for the move to fall through on medical grounds. Though remaining on the transfer list, he was restored to the first team, and his goals helped Birmingham to reach the

2001 Football League Cup Final The 2001 Football League Cup Final was a football match played between Birmingham City and Liverpool on 25 February 2001 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2000–01 Football League Cup, the 41st season of the Foo ...

. 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. A serious knee injury, 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 Athletic towards the end of the 2001–02 season helped him back to fitness, but new manager

Steve Bruce Stephen Roger Bruce (born 31 December 1960) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre-back. He most recently managed West Bromwich Albion F.C., West Br ...

chose not to renew his contract.

Crystal Palace

In August 2002, Adebola signed a one-year contract with Crystal Palace, after impressing former manager Trevor Francis in a trial. He played one season at the club, where he proved his fitness, making 48 appearances in all competitions.

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. At Burnley he scored once in three appearances, his goal coming against Watford. Another loan spell followed, this time at Bradford City for whom he scored three goals. 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 Stern John, CM (born 30 October 1976) is a Trinidadian football manager and former player who is currently managing Saint Lucia. He managed Anguilla from 2020 to 2022. He previously played for a number of American and English football clubs tha ...

and Gary McSheffrey, that his form picked up.

Bristol City

On 30 January 2008, Adebola signed an 18-month contract with Bristol City, moving for an undisclosed fee, despite Coventry wanting to renew his deal, which was due to end in the summer. Adebola made his debut on 2 February in a 3–0 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers, and scored in just seven minutes on his home debut to help City defeat Sheffield Wednesday 2–1. His performances in the 2008–09 season, during which he scored 10 goals from 42 appearances, earned him the club's Player of the Year award. The player rejected the club's offer of a year's extension to his contract, claiming he had been offered a two-year deal elsewhere.

Nottingham Forest

It was announced on 30 June 2009 that Adebola had signed a two-year contract with Nottingham Forest. He joined them on a free transfer after rejecting a one-year deal at Bristol City. Adebola struggled to hold down a regular place in the Forest side in the 2009–10 season. He was mainly restricted to substitute appearances, finding himself below

Dexter Blackstock Dexter Anthony Titus Blackstock (born 20 May 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played most notably for Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest. Having represented England at youth international level, Bl ...

and

Robert Earnshaw Robert Earnshaw (born 6 April 1981) is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a forward. He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League, all three divisions of the English Football League, the League Cup, ...

in the pecking order, but he did manage to force his way into the Forest team, particularly away from home, towards the end of the season. He scored a late consolation goal for Forest in the play-off semi-final second leg against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Hull City

He entered contract negotiations with Hull City at the end of the 2010–11 season. On 29 June it was confirmed that Adebola signed a one-year contract. He made his debut in the first game of the season on 5 August 2011 at the KC Stadium in the 1–0 defeat to

. On 20 March 2012, Adebola joined League One club Notts County on loan for the remainder of the season. He made six league appearances and scored once, an 89th-minute equaliser in a 4–3 win away at Wycombe Wanderers.

Rochdale

On 7 August 2012, Adebola signed a one-year-deal with League Two club Rochdale. Under manager John Coleman, Adebola made 26 league appearances for Rochdale, but when Keith Hill took over as manager after the sacking of Coleman, Hill made it clear he wanted to let Adebola leave the club.

Wrexham (loan)

In February 2013, Adebola signed on loan for

leaders Wrexham, subject to international clearance. On 2 March, he made his debut in a 1–1 draw in a Conference match at The Racecourse against Alfreton Town. Adebola made 13 appearances for Wrexham, scoring twice, against Lincoln City and Ebbsfleet United. His last appearance for Wrexham was as an 88th-minute substitute, replacing Jay Harris, at Wembley Stadium in the Conference play-off final against Newport County. Wrexham lost 2–0, condemning them to a sixth season in

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

. On his return to Rochdale, he was released.

Rushall Olympic

Adebola signed for non-league Rushall Olympic in August 2013.

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. Adebola had to withdraw due to injury, but did express an interest in playing for the country. He was also selected in Nigeria's provisional squad for the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, but failed to make the cut. Both Northern Ireland and Nigeria continued their pursuit of the player; in October 1998 McMenemy reported that Adebola 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. In March 1999, McMenemy made a final abortive attempt to persuade him to play for Northern Ireland. Despite his lack of form at club level, he was still sufficiently highly rated by the Nigerian selectors to be included in the preliminary squad for the

2000 African Cup of Nations The 2000 African Cup of Nations was the 22nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria, who jointly replaced Zimbabwe as host. Just like in 1998, the field ...

and, following talks with coach

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, in the squad for a World Cup qualifier in July 2000. However, he did not accept any of these invitations.

Career statistics

Honours

Crewe Alexandra * Football League Second Division play-off Final: 1996–97

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adebola, Dele 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Lagos Nigerian footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Association football forwards Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Rushall Olympic F.C. players English Football League players Cymru Premier players National League (English football) players Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United Kingdom