Former Burnley boss Steve Cotterill looks back at Ade Akinbiyi's memorable debut

Steve Cotterill landed striker Ade Akinbiyi from Stoke City for £600,000 to replace Robbie Blake, who had joined Birmingham for £1.25m.

However, a combination of a thigh problem and the fact he was cup tied, meant he had to wait for his debut.

With the Clarets trailing 1-0 at Turf Moor to Sunderland, Akinbiyi came off the bench for his Burnley bow with 10 minutes to play, but within three minutes he was back down the tunnel, having been sent off for an out of character reaction to Black Cats left back George McCartney holding him off.

Akinbiyi elbowed the Irishman, grabbed his throat, and went to head butt him in a moment of madness.

He would later apologise to Cotterill in person, and then the fans, via the local media, before going on to enjoy two fruitful spells with the club.

Cotterill looked back on a remarkable incident: "We'd signed Ade, and I think he pulled a thigh in training, which meant his long-awaited debut was a couple of weeks later.

"I think it was George McCartney, the ball was just running out of play, he blocked Ade off, and I don't think Ade had been on the pitch two minutes.

"There's not too many people are going to block Ade off. George was a great lad, but he blocked him off, Ade took offence, shoved him in the back, forearm smashed him, and then had him by the throat!

"It was like 'oh my god!', your latest signing, who you really want the fans to take to...

"Thankfully he turned out alright in the end!

"He ended up getting sent off seconds into his debut.

"Someone asked me in the press conference afterwards, if I thought he should have been sent off for grabbing McCartney by the throat, and I said 'no'.

"The journalist said 'no?! You don't think he should have been sent off for that?'

"I said 'no, he should have been sent off for the forearm smash before that!'

"It's funny, Ade is one of the nicest lads I've managed. He came in to see me afterwards and was hugely apologetic.

"I think it was just frustration, he signed for the club, he wanted to play, he was desperate to play, it took a month before he could get his boots on, and then it was right at the end of the game, and I thought to myself 'do I put him on or not?'

"So I think I have to take a bit of the blame for that, because I put him on when I didn't have to.

"But he's a great lad."

Akinbiyi went on to score on his next appearance after suspension, in a 2-1 defeat against Sheffield United, and ended the season with four goals in 10 appearances.

The following campaign, he had hit 14 goals by Boxing Day - including a brilliant hat-trick at Luton as the Clarets, with John Spicer in goal after Brian Jensen's red card, claimed all three points - before the Blades snapped him up for £1.8m.

Akinbiyi returned a year later for £750,000, and he would net another 13 goals under Cotterill and then Owen Coyle, with one memorable strike in the League Cup win at Chelsea, before joining Houston Dynamo in the MLS in March 2009, with Burnley battling for a place in the Championship play-offs.

Cotterill added: "He wasn't the silkiest footballer, completely the opposite to Robbie (Blake).

"The fans loved Robbie for what he was, he was a little magician, he could finish with both feet, a wonderful footballer and a great lad.

"Ade was not a gifted footballer, but an incredible team player, ran his socks off for the team, he also gave the team a little bit of belief.

"We weren't the softest of teams anyway, John McGreal, Frank Sinclair, those types of players, they could look after themselves.

"But we were never going to be taken for granted by the opposition once Ade started playing.

"He was incredible that day at Luton, brilliant. He was lethal. Those are days where everything you hit goes in.

"He was incredible. But without his power and pace, he wouldn't have got those goals."