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Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Ashikodi: A Profile

This slightly edited profile comes from Wikipedia:

Moses Ashikodi was born on the 27th June 1987 in Lagos, Nigeria.

Ashikodi started his career at Millwall
At fifteen years old, he became their youngest player ever when he debuted at Brighton in March 2003. He went on to record five substitute appearances for the club.
Ashikodi's career at Millwall effectively ended in February 2004
, after a training ground incident that reportedly saw Ashikodi threaten team-mate with a knife. Ashikodi was suspended while the investigation was carried out. The following month, he left the club by mutual consent.

Ashikodi made the move to East Londond
rivals West Ham in August 2004. "Everybody deserves a second chance - and to be fair he seems a lot calmer than Thomas Repka!" said Alan Pardew upon signing him. He was part of the team that reached the last 8 of the FA Youth Cup, and was the club's top scorer at reserve level that season, although he didn't feature for the first team.
In July 2005, he went on trial at Rushden and Diamonds
for a week with a view to a loan deal, but ended up playing on loan at Gillingham for the rest of the year.

Released by West Ham, Ashikodi moved to Scottish giants Rangers in January 2006, signing on a six month deal with the possibility of a longer contract. He made his only full appearance for the club as a late substitute in an Old Firm game against Celtic at Parkhead on April 23, 2006.

In January 2007, Ashikodi moved to Watford for a nominal fee. He made his debut for Watford in January, playing alongside Toumani Diagouraga and scored the final goal in a 4–1 FA Cup win over Stockport County. He played his first Premier League game against Aston Villa on 20 January 2007. He then went on loan to then League One side Bradford City in March 2007. He played eight times for the Bantams, scoring twice. His loan spell was cut short after he sustained a broken leg in a fixture against Brighton, which ruled him out for the remainder of the season.

After recovering from his broken leg, he was quickly loaned out in January 2008 to another League One side, Swindon Town, for the remainder of the 2007/2008 season. He played ten times for Swindon, and scored a hatrick for their reserves. He returned to Watford in April 2008 after a loose screw on a plate in his leg required surgery, ruling him out of the remainder of the season.

Ashikodi has also played for England at youth levels, including appearances at the 2002 Under 16 Victory Shield (scoring in a 1–0 victory against Wales), the 2003 Under 17 Pepsi Tournament and an Under 18 substitute appearance against Norway. At Under 19 level, he scored the only two goals in the game against Switzerland in November 2005.