Yakub-reev-u
Last updated : 09 May 2005 By Keith Allman
Given how he's sodding off, it only seems fair to look back on the career of Yakubu Ayegbeni; striker, goalscorer, and he of the unoriginal "outstretched arms mock-aeroplane" goal celebration.
His brushes with England started in 2002, when Derby County - then under the stewardship of John Gregory - took a certain young Nigerian on trial during pre-season. He did very well, indeed impressing enough for The Rams to try and bring him over to England on a full time basis. But alas! Work permit issues arose and instead he had to stay at Maccabi Haifa, where he made a bit of a name for himself in the Champions League. In fact during Haifa's European jaunt he scored a hat trick against Olympiakos and, even more impressively, cracked on in against Manchester United during a 3-0 win and even catching the eye of Sir Alex Ferguson (please take note of this, it becomes important later on).
Meanwhile over in England, Portsmouth were romping up the table with relative ease and seemingly on course for
promotion. Not that anyone wanted to say it at that point of course, especially given our December "blip" of - shock! - drawing a few games. Rumours began to circulate around the turn of the year of this Nigerian striker who could be coming over on loan. Due to a, shall we say, "handy" marriage to a Portuguese girl he was now able to play in Blighty and tipped off by Alex Ferguson (told you), Harry Redknapp swooped for his talents.
Immediately the tales started to spread, as dodgy quality videos of the man in action on the pitch popped up on Portsmouth forums. Apparently he was over six foot tall, built like a tank, was exceptionally pacey and had a good strike on him as well. Well, bits of that statement were true, but the "Yak-hysteria" spread. (Imagine my disappointment to find out I was taller than him). Indeed, myself and others turned out to get the first glimpse of the man in action in a reserve game at Fratton Park; he did his part and scored although it was a six yard tap-in rather than an eighty yard wonder strike, but we can't have it all.
Amid the dubious surroundings of the Withdean Stadium Yakubu was unleashed on the English game. He impressed the few travelling supporters and a week later on his home debut - after a mere three minutes - he scored his first goal in royal blue after bursting away from a static Grimsby defence. Needless to say if you can score against Grimsby, you can score against anyone. And from there on the season only got better; the next match was
that 6-2 win over Derby and ironically Yak was on the scoresheet twice against the club who he could've been playing for. His pace was such that it led Tim Sherwood to "hilariously" quip, "it's like he's on a motorbike!"
Four more goals over the rest of the season - including two away at Millwall - made the full time signing of Yakubu a priority for the first season in the Premiership. He finally signed on with a bizarre deal full of clauses, fees, appearance related garbage and the like. But importantly, he was ours.
Unfortunately his first season in the Premier League didn't really go to plan. It seemed to be alright at first - setting up a goal against Villa and scoring against Manchester City - but then came a three month drought in the league. Part of the blame could be laid at the fact he contracted malaria in the summer and was no doubt feeling somewhat fatigued. By New Year's Day he had only scored four times, and two of those away at Forest in the League Cup. The disappointing thing is that despite the fact he was obviously trying it just didn't seem to be going for the lad and he missed a fair share of one-on-ones as well. What's more the team were struggling as a whole, and when a striker can't get the goals there's only one option; try someone else. The ultimate embarrassment for Yakubu as he was dropped in favour of Jason Roberts.
All through this time, I was saying (smart arse alert) that he only needed one to bounce off him from a yard and his confidence would be up again; he'd be off on the scoring trail. The date; 3rd January, 2004. The opposition; Blackpool. The time; 4:50. With the game poised at 1-1 and a replay likely, the ball bounces off Yakubu from a yard and it turns out to be the winner. The catalyst? So it seemed, as he hit another two a week later to see off Manchester City. However the African Cup of Nations came along and disrupted his progress. Although he was sent home in disgrace from the tournament, it still seemed to throw him off balance somewhat and he hit another dry patch.
Then the team hit the biggest slump of the season until we beat Southampton 1-0. Do I need to tell you who scored? (The clue is in the picture). A new found partnership with Lomano LuaLua set him off on a run of eleven goals in ten games that saw us fly up the table to 13th and comfortably secure safety. Everything was starting to go his way; the tricks tried before were coming off, the keepers weren't making the saves like before, and what's more his confidence was clearly soaring. As well as the aforementioned goal in the South Coast derby, undoubtedly one of the most crucial strikes was away at Leeds to set us up for a 2-1 win, practically securing our safety as well as sending them down; a goal away at Blackburn gave us the first away win of the season also and ranks as one of the most important times he has scored for us.
But his four goals on the final day against Middlesbrough, whilst being a fine display of goalscoring ability, was also to start the beginning of the end. It's no secret that Steve McClaren's idea of "coaching" is just to buy as many players as possible and one who scores four goals against his side is certainly going to be a popular move. All summer long we had to put up with story after story about how he was definitely going. A vast amount of agents and representatives appeared in the media claiming how they'd done a deal and that it was only a matter of time before he left.
And yet we got to this season with him still here, somehow. It all started swimmingly; a hat trick against Fulham, another goal against Manchester United, the winner against Tottenham - transfer talk was long consigned to the bin and Yakubu seemed content. But then it all went wrong. It would be easy to point the finger at the departure of Harry Redknapp but really I think it began before then. I'd like to think this was the beginning of Yakubu's "James Beattie Phase". To outsiders he seems like the most important player at the club because he scores all the goals; everyone else rates him and thinks he must be fantastic. Those who see him every week realise what a lazy disinterested little so-and-so he is.
There were (and indeed are) a few problems I think. The first is that from his own performances, he'd managed to build up such hype that we expected miracles every week. The second is that once people get into the frame of mind of picking on a certain player, absolutely everything they do is magnified. There's no hiding place. But the other problem is that players like Ricardo Fuller and Dio Kamara will run all day and chase down the opposition defenders, so it makes them look a lot more energetic and interested. Of course, Yak's game is about being in the right place at the right time, and he can point to the fact his method clearly works as he's the joint third highest scorer in the Premiership whilst Fuller has only one goal to his name and Kamara just six.
Which more or less brings us up to date. I feel ridiculous having a dig at a player with seventeen goals this season, but you have to wonder what he really could've achieved if he'd put his mind to it. Milan Mandaric was saying pre-match on Saturday that his mind has been elsewhere since the turn of the year and although they've tried desperately to make him happy, he's just not having any of it. It's a shame that what does seem to make him happy is the thought of more money at Middlesbrough, but so be it. I hope for his sake he doesn't fall victim to the curse of strikers up north that the likes of Hasselbaink, Viduka, Christie, Ricketts and Maccarone have all suffered.
Yakubu. A great scorer of goals, rather than a scorer of great goals. I get the feeling that next season we'll realise just how much we need him, but at the moment it's hard to be fair on someone who looks like they want to crank out a cigar every time they're on the pitch.
Still, thanks for the memories. Regardless of what we may think of him, a goalscoring record of 36 in 73 speaks for itself.
