Adebayo Akinfenwa backs Swansea City for promotion and reflects on his EFL journey

Former Swansea City striker Adebayo Akinfenwa believes the Swans have what it takes to secure promotion to the Premier League this season.

Akinfenwa remains a keen follower of Swansea and believes they are well placed to challenge for a return to the top flight despite a recent dip in results.

Vitor Matos’ side made an impressive start to the campaign, winning seven of their opening 10 matches in the Championship, but have since collected just one victory from their next five.

Nevertheless, Akinfenwa has seen enough to believe they can finish in the automatic places or secure a play-off spot.

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Swans backing

“I always want Swansea to do well, and they started off like a house on fire, and although they’ve had a little bit of a dip of late, they are still in a really good position,” the 44-year-old told Betway.

“The Championship is hard, though, and it’s intense, and there are so many games.

“We aren’t even halfway through it yet, but you need a bit of luck with injuries, and as cliche as it is, you have to take it game by game.

“I still back them to go up this year, whether it’s automatically or through the play-offs, I’ve seen enough from this side to believe they are capable of that.”

Akinfenwa spent two seasons at Swansea between 2005 and 2007, making an immediate impression by scoring on his debut against Tranmere Rovers.

His goal was also the first competitive strike at the club’s new Liberty Stadium, now known as the Swansea.com Stadium, as the Swans began a memorable new chapter.

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Good memories

He also revealed that former Swans forward Lee Trundle was the best player he ever shared a dressing room with.

“My time at Swansea was my education, because I went into a massive club, and we moved into the Liberty Stadium and there were 20,000 in for our first game there against Tranmere, and the atmosphere was incredible.

“Not only was it a huge club, but I went into a top-quality changing room, and I learned a lot.

“I still say now, the best player I ever played with was Lee Trundle at Swansea, but Kevin Austin was my mentor there, and those experienced players really helped me develop.

“I look back on that period very fondly because there are just so many good memories.”

Pinnacle of his career

Akinfenwa enjoyed the most successful period of his playing career at Wycombe Wanderers, helping the Chairboys win promotion from League Two in 2018 before reaching the Championship for the first time in the club’s history two years later.

He scored 61 goals in 251 appearances, won the club’s Player of the Season award twice and became Wycombe’s leading goalscorer in the Football League.

Reflecting on his time at Adams Park, Akinfenwa said it was the pinnacle of his playing career.

“I was so lucky because my greatest achievements on the pitch came towards the end of my career at Wycombe, and there wasn’t that aspect of thinking that I could go on and do better at another club,” he explained.

“I knew this was the pinnacle, and I knew this was the moment. So it allowed me to take everything in and really enjoy it.

“I think it was three promotions in five years. To achieve that alongside those players, those staff and those supporters was really special.

“I think we were the first Wycombe side to get to the Championship, and that’s an achievement I’m really proud of.

“I think I’m Wycombe’s leading goalscorer in the Football League too, which is a huge honour for me, and that period of my career couldn’t have gone any better.”

Ainsworth influence

Akinfenwa also reserved plenty of praise for former Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth, who helped the club enjoy its most successful period in recent years.

“Gareth Ainsworth did an unbelievable job, and he was a real people person,” he added.

“He knew he was an energy giver rather than an energy zapper, and he knew if he’d have come in stern-faced after a defeat, that would have taken the energy out of the dressing room.

“The way he dresses, the way he talks, and the way he manages is very different, and he allowed us players to be different and do our own thing too, and that really helped us.

“Everybody bought into what he wanted to do, and one of his strengths was that there was no ego with him, and he was happy to bring in experienced players and let us run the dressing room.

“He could step in if he needed to, and although people called us Dad’s Army at times, we all felt we had a point to prove, and I think we did that.”

Changing game

A veteran of the EFL, Akinfenwa has watched the game evolve over the years and believes clubs further down the pyramid are increasingly influenced by the Premier League.

He feels the traditional direct style of football has become less common, although he singled out Lincoln City as a side whose approach reminded him of his successful Wycombe team.

“It’s changed so much in League One and League Two since I started, but football is all about adapting, and I’d like to think I could do a job the way it is now,” he said.

“It’s heavily influenced by what we see in the Premier League, and even in League Two you’re seeing goalkeepers trying to play out from the back, and I’d say there’s a lack of identity now because it feels like everybody is trying to do the same thing.

“You have to be comfortable with your own identity as a club, because when I was playing it was a bit more direct, and you’d have your big man-little man up top, but that seems to have gone from the game.

“I like that aggressive direct style of football, but I know everybody is trying to emulate the promised land of the Premier League, and I suppose that’s no bad thing.

“I liked what Lincoln did last year, because they reminded me of my Wycombe team in the way they played proper direct football, but it’s definitely few and far between now.”

Adebayo Akinfenwa was speaking exclusively to Betway after appearing as a guest on Head2Head from the Clubhouse, presented by Betway.

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