The Ugly: John Akinde
John Akinde’s Portsmouth spell came during a period when his career was still searching for direction. He joined Pompey on loan from Crawley Town in 2013 and made 11 league appearances without scoring, part of a nomadic period that also took in Bristol City, Wycombe Wanderers, Brentford, Bristol Rovers and Dagenham and Redbridge. It was only after dropping into non-league with Alfreton Town that his career really ignited, eventually leading to four prolific seasons with Barnet. By the time Lincoln signed him in July 2018, he was arriving with a reputation as one of the most effective strikers in the lower divisions and his signing was widely viewed as a major coup.
His first season at Sincil Bank remains the source of most of the debate around him. Akinde top scored as we won League Two in 2018/19, scoring 15 league goals and leading the line throughout a title-winning campaign, but a sizeable proportion of those goals came from the penalty spot and his languid style did not appeal to everybody. He scored only eight times from open play in the league, fewer than Bruno Andrade, and there were supporters who expected more from a striker with his Barnet record. Others saw the value in what he did away from the goals, occupying centre-halves, providing a focal point and creating space for those around him. How many attacks were helped by Akinde tying up defenders or dragging markers away from somebody else?
He remained involved during the first half of 2019/20 but, like several players from the Cowley era, gradually dropped out of favour after Michael Appleton arrived. There was still time for a memorable final contribution when he came off the bench and scored twice in the 5-1 win against Bolton Wanderers in January 2020, before joining Gillingham later that month. He left with 25 goals from 81 appearances in all competitions and a League Two winners’ medal, which makes the enduring argument around him all the more interesting. Akinde was not the prolific open-play striker some expected, but he was the number nine in a championship-winning side, and that is why his Lincoln career still sits somewhere between hugely valuable and strangely divisive.
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