Tim Sherwood hopes to have last word in Emmanuel Adebayor story

Rory Smith, The Times Most coaches have despaired of the talented but troublesome Togo striker, so why is the Spurs manager keen to build a side around him, asks Rory Smith Everyone has a story about Emmanuel Adebayor. They are not uniformly positive. Take the one that dates back to !!" and the first time he faced Arsenal as a Manchester #ity player. Adebayor, it is safe to say, had an eventful afternoon. $e scored, and ran the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of his former club%s fans. $e also stamped on Robin van &ersie, appearing to rake his studs down his erstwhile team'mate%s face. $e was banned for three games by the (A and fined heavily. )hat they remember at the Etihad Stadium, with a hint of incredulous laughter, is that Adebayor asked the club to pay the fine for him. $e was mildly outraged when #ity disagreed. That is not the only one. They do not remember *uite what the disagreement was about, but they recall him falling out with the club%s hierarchy over something or other during his tumultuous two years there. That was it, he said, he was moving back to +ondon. $e still had to train, though. $e was not willing to go on strike, even though at that ,uncture in #ity%s history going on strike was somewhat fashionable. So he commuted every day, from +ondon to Manchester and back again, until his fury subsided. #ity are not uni*ue, though. They tell stories about Adebayor at all his former clubs. -ean (ernande., his coach at Met., Adebayor%s first stop in Europe from Togo, remembers calling him into his office / 0 times1 during his time there, eventually losing patience after he reported late from international duty. At the time, -uventus were thought to be tracking the player. (ernande. ,oked that he was more likely to get a move to the Spanish third division club of the same name. $e went to neither, ending up at Monaco, and was put out when 2idier 2eschamps, the coach, left him out for the !!3 #hampions +eague final, but it was under his successor, (rancesco 4uidolin, the 5talian, that the toys flew from the pram. Adebayor reported late after an international break6 4uidolin sent him to train with the reserves. /7ou have to be 5talian to play in the first team,1 the striker snapped. 7ou get the picture. This is the Adebayor we have come to know8 difficult, truculent, belligerent, the epitome of all the worst traits in a modern footballer. $e acts as he wants, transgresses as he wants, and then blames someone else.

This is the Adebayor who tends, in conversation, to refer to himself in the third person. $e calls himself /Adebayor1. This is the Adebayor Andr9 :illas';oas tried to ostracise at Tottenham $otspur, apparently after he refused to remove a hat for a team meeting. 5t is not the Adebayor whom Tim Sherwood, the &ortuguese%s replacement, sees as a /warrior1, around whom he is determined to build a side. (or the sake of completeness, though, let us move on to Arsenal, where they remember the time < at the end of his last season for the club < he left the Emirates Stadium with several of his team'mates% boots as souvenirs, without their permission and for reasons that remain unclear. Even before that, they remember him as a hugely divisive presence in the dressing room. Theo )alcott, in his autobiography, recalls seeing the forward /laughing and ,oking1 after the club%s elimination at the hands of Manchester =nited in the !!" #hampions +eague semi'finals, when #ristiano Ronaldo and )ayne Rooney cut Ars>ne )enger%s team to shreds. /)e were all trying to come to terms with what had ,ust happened,1 )alcott wrote. /;ut that was Addy.1 The striker would leave Arsenal within weeks. There are, though, other stories about Adebayor. There is the one told by his former coach with Togo, ?tto &fister, who describes visiting the Arsenal dressing room in !!@ and being told by Thierry $enry that the young striker sitting neAt to him would one day not ,ust take his place as the centrepiece of Arsenal%s attack, but )enger%s ,ob too. There are those told by people around the Togo team, too, that detail not simply his bravery and sympathy in the aftermath of the horrific attack on the team%s bus before the !B! Africa #up of Cations < in which three people were killed, including the press attach9, who died in Adebayor%s arms < but his determination to get a better deal for his team'mates throughout his international career. There have been times when Adebayor has paid bonuses from his own pocket, arranged training facilities, medical care, dealt with the country%s government to ensure that everything went smoothly. There have been times when, at home in +om9, in the north of Togo, he has ,oined in training with players from the local side and invited them to his home. This is a less familiar Adebayor, but it is ,ust as true a representation of him as the spoilt, fractious caricature in those other tales. There are few characters so enigmatic, so difficult to read in football as the Spurs striker. &lenty have tried. #ity deputed &atrick :ieira, their resident wise old head, to take him under his wing. The two were close, but :ieira could not solve the conundrum. Members of Sherwood%s coaching staff admit that they cannot *uite work him out6 the theory at the moment is that if he trains badly, he will play well, and vice versa.

They think that he is worth it, though. That is the other thing with Adebayor. Speak to anyone who has played with or against him and they will tell you of his eAtraordinary natural talent. That is why Sherwood is so desperate to see him as a fighter, rather than, like everyone else, as ,ust a fight. )ith one eAception, of course. ?f all of his managers, only one < eAcluding Sherwood < has had no problem with him. /$e was as good as gold for me,1 says $arry Redknapp, who is now at Dueens &ark Rangers. /$e loved training. Cever missed a session. $e was like a kid out there. 5 liked him. 5 tried to bring him here, actually, when Spurs bombed him out. )e thought we could do a deal on his wages but he wanted to be in the &remier +eague. 5 never had a problem with him.1 So what was the secretE )hat did Redknapp do that (ernande., 2eschamps, 4uidolin, Mark $ughes, Mancini, :illas';oas and to some eAtent )enger did notE /F&layers like himG want to be made to feel important, to be respected,1 Redknapp says. /7ou have to keep them onside. &eople like him won%t be a H out of B! every week. $e%ll be a "I and then a 3. ;ut when he%s a "I, he%ll win you games.1 That is Redknapp%s story about Adebayor. 5t is the one that Sherwood so craves, too, so much so that he has bet his reputation < and Tottenham%s season < on it. $e has read all the previous chapters. $e is ,ust convinced that they do not know the ending. The best of times, the worst of times January 2006 Hi h After emerging from Met.%s youth academy and en,oying a miAed spell at Monaco, helping the club reach the #hampions +eague final but falling out with 2idier 2eschamps and (rancesco 4uidolin, his coaches, the Togolese ,oins Arsenal for JK million. $is first siA months in England bring four goals in B! games. June 2006 Hi h Represents his country in their first )orld #up finals, although only after the entire Togo s*uad went on strike < and ?tto &fister, the team coach, walked out < in a dispute over bonuses. !ebruary 200" #ow The striker is sent off in the dying minutes of Arsenal%s +eague #up final defeat to #helsea, accused of throwing a punch at (rank +ampard.

September 200" Hi h The season that will prove his best in the &remier +eague begins with Adebayor scoring twice at )hite $art +ane to win the Corth +ondon derby. $e ends the campaign with 3 league goals and ;arcelona and A# Milan desperate to sign him. July 200$ Hi h After an in,ury'plagued campaign, Manchester #ity complete the signing of the forward for about J 3 million. September 200$ % #ow Adebayor prompts fury among Arsenal%s supporters when his former club visit Manchester #ity, running the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of them after his goal in a 3' win. Also banned for three games for stamping on Robin van &ersie. January 20&0 % #ow Adebayor is on the bus with the Togo national side on their way to the Africa #up of Cations when it is attacked by armed Angolan separatists. Three people are killed and Adebayor describes it as the worst moment of his life. Au ust 20&& #ow The forward is told by Roberto Mancini, his manager, that he is no longer re*uired at #ity. $e ,oins Real Madrid on loan in -anuary and Tottenham, again on loan, in the summer. 'ay 20&2 Hi h Adebayor forms a crucial part of $arry Redknapp%s Tottenham $otspur side and ends the season as the club%s top scorer. $e is rewarded with a permanent deal at )hite $art +ane. (ovember 20&2 #ow Adebayor, scorer of an early goal, is sent off for Tottenham at the Emirates for a rash foul on Santi #a.orla. Au ust 20&) #ow Allowed compassionate leave to return to Togo for his brother%s funeral, Adebayor arrives back in +ondon to find Andr9 :illas';oas, the head coach, has condemned him to train with the reserves.

*e+ember 20&) Hi h Adebayor returns to the Tottenham side after the dismissal of :illas';oas, scoring twice as Tim Sherwood%s team beat Southampton away. ,ords by -ory Smith