Tony Adams (footballer)

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Tony Adams
Personal information
Full name Tony Alexander Adams
Date of birth October 10, 1966 (age 40)
Place of birth    Romford, England
Height 6 ft 3 in
Nickname Mr Arsenal, TA, Tone, Big Tone
Playing position Assistant Manager
(former Defender)
Club information
Current club Portsmouth
Youth clubs
1980-1984 Arsenal
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1984-2002 Arsenal 504 (32)   
National team
1987-2000 England 66 (5)
Teams managed
2003-2004
2006-present		 Wycombe Wanderers
Portsmouth (assistant)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Tony Alexander Adams MBE (born 10 October 1966) is a former English football player who is currently assistant manager of Portsmouth. He spent his entire playing career of 22 years at Arsenal, and is considered one of the club's greatest players of all time by the club's own fans.[1]

Contents

[edit] Club career

Adams was born in Romford in the London Borough of Havering and joined Arsenal as a schoolboy in 1980. He made his first team debut on November 5, 1983, at the age of 17 against Sunderland. Together with Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn and Steve Bould, Adams was part of the "famous four" that lined up in Arsenal's defence, which under George Graham was renowned for its well disciplined use of the offside trap. On January 1, 1988, he became Arsenal's youngest ever captain at the age of 21; he would remain club captain for the next 14 years.

Their strong defence was a huge factor in Arsenal winning the League Cup in 1986-87 then the First Division trophy in 1988-89 and 1990-91. In 1992-93 Adams became the first player to captain his side to a League Cup and FA Cup double, lifting the European Cup Winners' Cup the year after.

Despite this success, alcohol problems increasingly blighted his life as he was reportedly often involved in fights in night clubs, was imprisoned in December 1990 for three months after being caught drunk-driving. He was four times over the limit when he crashed his car into a wall. He was involved in other drunken incidents during his drinking days, including wetting the bed, playing in a match at the end of 1993 whilst hungover, falling down stairs and needing 29 stiches to an head wound, and letting off fire extinguishers with team-mate Ray Parlour. In September 1996 Adams admitted that he was an alcoholic and, after seeking treatment, found a more sensitive side to his character emerging, which included a return to education and an attempt to learn the piano. He is one of the most high-profile recovering alcoholics in the UK[citation needed] - his battle with alcohol is heavily detailed in his autobiography, Addicted, which was released in May 1998 to enormous critical acclaim.

His recovery and rehabilitation were helped in no small part by the arrival of Arsène Wenger as Arsenal manager in September 1996, who reformed the club's dietary practices and the players' lifestyles. Wenger stuck by Adams following his confessions about his drink problem, and the improvements in the regime probably extended Adams's career by several years. Adams rewarded his manager's understanding handsomely, captaining the club to two Premiership and FA Cup Doubles, in 1997-98 and 2001-02; he is the only player in English football history to have captained a League-winning team in three different decades.

After his second Double win in 2002, Adams retired from professional football altogether, his last match being the 2002 FA Cup Final. He played 668 matches for Arsenal (only David O'Leary has played more) and was the most successful captain in the club's history. The number 6 shirt that Adams wore when playing was not used from his retirement at the end of 2001/2002 to the end of the 2005/2006 season, but Philippe Senderos recently acquired this number. Nicknamed "Mr. Arsenal", he was honoured by Arsenal with a testimonial game against Celtic in May 2002 with many Arsenal legends playing, including Ian Wright, John Lukic and Adams' fellow back four stalwarts, Dixon, Winterburn and Bould. The game finished 1-1 with Lee Dixon, in his final appearance for the Gunners, getting their goal.

In 2004, Adams was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact on the English game.

[edit] International career

Adams made his debut for England against Spain in 1987, and played in Euro 88. Adams' international career suffered a couple of setbacks after such early promise; he was surprisingly left out of the 1990 FIFA World Cup squad by manager Bobby Robson, and missed Euro 92 due to injury. However, he still maintained a regular place in defence, and after the retirement of Gary Lineker in 1992, Adams unofficially shared the captaincy of England with David Platt, though Adams got the job outright before Euro 96, as Platt's place in the side became less secure. England reached the semi-finals of Euro 96, before losing on penalties to Germany.

When England manager Glenn Hoddle gave Alan Shearer the captain's armband in 1996, his decision both surprised and angered Adams[citation needed] as well as leaving many England fans[attribution needed] puzzled. Adams continued to play for the national side, however and he finally appeared in a World Cup finals in 1998. His international swansong was England's largely unsuccessful Euro 2000 campaign. With Shearer retiring from international football after the tournament, Adams regained the captaincy. However, within months, England lost a World Cup qualifier to Germany in October 2000, the match being the last to be staged at Wembley Stadium before the stadium was torn down for rebuilding. That match was Adams's 60th Wembley appearance, a record. With Sven-Göran Eriksson eventually taking the helm and under increasing pressure for his place from the emerging and improving Rio Ferdinand, Adams retired from international football before Eriksson picked his first squad.

[edit] Managerial career

After starting a sports science degree at Brunel University, Adams became the manager of Wycombe Wanderers in November 2003. He was unable to prevent the club's relegation to League Two that season, and although the club were top of the table in August 2004, but a loss of form saw them fall down the table.[2] He resigned from Wycombe in November 2004, citing personal reasons. He was succeded by John Gorman.

On 7 July 2005, Adams accepted a trainee coaching role with Dutch side Feyenoord with special responsibility for its Jonge team, which is a reserve/junior side. Adams later had a short spell seconded to Utrecht as a first team trainee coach, between 15 January and 2 February 2006.

On June 28, 2006, Adams joined Portsmouth as assistant manager, a position left vacant by the departure of Kevin Bond.

[edit] Charitable work

In September 2000, as a result of his own experiences with alcoholism and drug addiction, Adams founded the Sporting Chance Clinic, a charitable foundation aimed at providing treatment, counselling and support for sports men and women suffering from drink, drug or gambling addictions. The clinic, which works to the twelve-step programme philosophy of Alcoholics Anonymous is based near Liphook in Hampshire and includes Kate Hoey, Alex Rae and Elton John as patrons, and is supported by the Professional Footballers Association. Adams's former Arsenal and England team mate Paul Merson, himself a recovering alcoholic, is also a patron of the charity.

He also played in the Soccer Aid charity match co-organised by Robbie Williams on behalf of UNICEF in May 2006.

[edit] Personal life

Adams married Poppy Teacher in December 2004, with whom he has had one son, Atticus (born February 7, 2004), Adams also has a son and a daughter from his first marriage to Jane Shea on 11 July 1992. They are Oliver (born on 28 February 1992) and Amber (born on 26 January 1995). He also has a step-daughter from Jane's earlier relationship called Clare who was born in 1985.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Kenny Sansom		 Arsenal F.C. Captain
1988 - 2002		 Succeeded by
Patrick Vieira
Preceded by
Gary Lineker		 England football captain
1992-1996		 Succeeded by
Alan Shearer
Preceded by
Lawrie Sanchez		 Wycombe Wanderers Manager
2003-2004		 Succeeded by
John Gorman
Awards
Preceded by
Tony Cottee		 PFA Young Player of the Year
1987		 Succeeded by
Paul Gascoigne


Flag of England England squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Flag of England

1 Seaman | 2 Campbell | 3 Le Saux | 4 Ince | 5 Adams | 6 Southgate | 7 Beckham | 8 Batty | 9 Shearer | 10 Sheringham | 11 McManaman | 12 Neville | 13 Martyn | 14 Anderton | 15 Merson | 16 Scholes | 17 Lee | 18 Keown | 19 L. Ferdinand | 20 Owen | 21 R. Ferdinand | 22 Flowers | Coach: Hoddle
Persondata
NAME Adams, Tony Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Former professional football player and [assistant] manager
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Romford, London, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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