The striker’s his eyes were twinkling after his quickfire impact in the opening win at Blackburn. Adey’s debut strike, on the ground where he hit a hat-trick for Arsenal last season, paved the way to a hard-fought 2-0 victory capped by Stevie Ireland’s cool-as-you-like finish near the end.
Emmanuel and his City team-mates lingered at the Darwen End at the finish, hurling their shirts to the celebrating 7,000 away following crammed behind that goal for Saturday’s dream start.
“The most important thing is that we won the game, but I’m very happy,” said the prolific Togo striker. “The fans showed that they love me - the noise they made was unbelievable.
“It was very different from Arsenal. I want to give back to them what they give to me. It’s not difficult to give 100 per cent for fans like that, and I look forward to keeping this going.”
Adebayor revealed: “The boss knew they would be up for beating their old manager. He asked us in the dressing-room to go out and win it for him, and I think we showed our character.
“I’m working hard for the team, everybody is working hard. What is important now is to keep that going - I’ve shown the fans I’m here to fight for the club, and we’ll carry that on.
“Beating Blackburn is a good three points, but tomorrow we start all over again. It’s Barcelona on Wednesday night, then another game. We have to move on and focus on the challenges ahead.”
