Cinderford Town defender Ismail Yakubu reflected on his professional football career with multiple trips to Wembley as an “amazing achievement.”
Starting his career at Barnet, Yakubu ended up playing close to 300 games for The Bees after joining at youth level.
“I was offered a pro contract at 17, which is a bit earlier than usual.
“There was an injury crisis they were going through with a lot of defenders being out. They needed to bring some players in, which they couldn’t afford at the time, or bring in some young players, and I was one of them,” he explained.
“I had the opportunity to come off the bench, and I seemed to do reasonably well. Then they (Barnet) had a big game against Boston, and what was different about that was it was televised, and I ended up doing really well in it.”
This performance garnered a lot of attention, including from some of the biggest clubs in English football.
“I went on trials to Man City, Arsenal, West Ham and Chelsea as well. It was a really amazing mixed bag of all these different experiences.
“Arsenal flew me to Hong Kong, Chelsea took me to a few different places around the UK for a couple of friendlies with their reserve team.
“It was quite an eye-opener seeing how the really talented and mega famous play and how they’re treated, and then obviously seeing what it’s like at League Two.”
Yakubu also played a crucial role in his time with Newport, visiting Wembley on two different occasions in back to back seasons. In 2012, Newport met with York City in the final of the FA Trophy which saw the Exiles leave without the trophy.
“It was a strange cup run because a lot of the games we looked like we were going to win or get through but we managed to get through by the skin of our teeth.
“It was a great experience, unfortunately we didn’t win but the team performed well and it was a good way to end the season.”
The following year saw the Exiles reach the play-off final where they faced Wrexham, again at Wembley, and Yakubu expressed how it was certainly one he remembered:
“This is the promotion I definitely remember the most. It was the perfect one as I played throughout the season, the manager had 100% trust in me and I even scored in the semi-finals as well.”
In 2023, Yakubu made the decision to join Cinderford Town after a successful career in the Football League.
“I knew a few players from Merthyr that had been playing for Cinderford. They said It’s a great club to go to, and they’ve got good lads over there.
“There’s a great atmosphere around the club and a good bunch of players, and we managed to get a promotion last season which was really cool,” he stated.
Although Yakubu’s future perhaps doesn’t lie in management, he hasn’t ruled out involvement in the game after retiring:
“Being a manager doesn’t really attract me although I have warmed to coaching and consulting.
“Now that I have this idea of what good football is from my 20 years of experience, I have a good idea of what teams need to focus on.”
