If there is a story that encapsulates Albert Adomah’s affection for Queens Park Rangers, then the time he was spotted in KFC wearing a home shirt freshly bought from the club shop while on the books of Middlesbrough takes some beating. It caused a slight stir but the reality was rather more innocent. He occasionally drove into training at Boro in QPR colours and once, after playing in a game between the teams, the winger seized a golden opportunity to add to his prized collection of shirts. “I waited in the tunnel and got about seven or eight tops,” Adomah says, smiling. “Even when I was at Aston Villa, living in Birmingham, sometimes I would go out on the street in my QPR shirt. I’m supporting my team. I’m just a normal supporter supporting the team that I love. Why not?”
It is the kind of authentic outlook that has cemented Adomah’s reputation as one of the game’s warmest personalities. His infectious nature was evident after QPR’s last game, a 4-0 victory over Reading that extended their unbeaten league run to six matches, when he jived on the pitch in front of fans with Jude the Cat, the club mascot. “I just thought: ‘Let me do a little dance with him and put a smile on his face,’ because he is always putting smiles on children’s faces. When I was younger I used to see him doing what he was doing, throwing shapes and messing to keep the young ones entertained. I thought I would do a little cameo with him. He actually made me famous …”
Adomah breaks into laughter. An endearing, down-to-earth character who has not forgotten his roots as a semi-professional at Harrow Borough, for whom he played while doing an NVQ in painting and decorating, he smiles as he explains the Only Fools and Horses-inspired “Uncle Albert” nickname that has stuck since he signed for Bristol City from Barnet. In the sitcom, the high-rise flats behind Ashton Gate doubled up as Nelson Mandela House. “Another reason is Albert is an old name and people used to call me ‘Uncle Uncs’ because of the way I used to behave for my age. I’d never get into any silliness or any banter. I would keep myself to myself. Very professional, let’s put it that way.”
QPR could leapfrog second-placed Blackburn with victory over Boro on Wednesday. Last month Adomah made a record 456th Championship appearance, more than any player since the second tier was rebranded in 2004. His journey has taken him from amateur football in Chiswick with Old Meadonians to the World Cup with Ghana in 2014, and he is determined to build on his two top-flight appearances, for Boro in 2016-17. The 34-year-old has a pair of white boots, worn against Swansea last month, decorated with a hand-painted portrait of his children, Faith, Noah and Samuel, wearing QPR kits. “I think I’ll probably get another pair made if we end up in the play-offs. If not, then hopefully in the Premier League.”
Another burst of laughter. Adomah moved to west London in his early teens and, despite growing up following Manchester United, would organise tournaments with friends and play on a pitch in the shadow of Loftus Road. “That is when I thought: ‘I need to support a local side.’ As youngsters, we all dreamt of playing for our local professional club. I wasn’t playing for an academy team. You think: ‘It would be nice to play for QPR.’ Fulham, Brentford and Chelsea were nearby but QPR was the closest and most of my friends supported QPR.”
One of those friends was Dean McKee, who died aged 28 in April 2020 after contracting coronavirus. McKee, an avid QPR supporter and wordsmith whose poem “Born Blue and White” has been played before home matches for the past three years, grew up with Adomah less than a mile from QPR’s ground. Adomah dedicated his first goal for the club – a 90th-minute winner at Watford last February – to McKee and unveiled an undershirt bearing the words “RIP Dean McKee”.
“Every game I think I put pressure on myself to score because I really wanted to score a goal just for him. He was the only person I was thinking about every time I went on the pitch. When I scored that goal against Watford, it was like ‘yes’, I just knew it was for Dean. When I heard the news I was in shock, in disbelief. It was heartbreaking.”
Adomah remembers ribbing McKee for supporting QPR as a boy – “I can recall myself saying: ‘Why don’t you support a team that wins trophies?’” – but soon joined him after another friend who worked as a steward at Loftus Road delivered on his promise to get him a QPR shirt. It was signed by Kevin Gallen and Paul Furlong, now the Under-23s manager at QPR, who Adomah would later play alongside at Barnet. “One of my heroes,” he says. “He came in on loan when he was 40. I don’t even think I told him I was a QPR fan … I’ve still got that shirt in my collection.”
Adomah, out of contract in the summer, is living his boyhood dream. “I say to people: ‘I came, I saw, I’m playing … and I’m still supporting,’” he says, smiling. “I even joked with [QPR’s director of football] Les [Ferdinand] saying: ‘If you guys give me a lifetime contract I’ll sign it straight away.’ He just laughed and said: ‘Are you coming for my job next then?’ If it is meant to be, then it is meant to be.”