Tony Adams (footballer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other persons named Tony Adams, see Tony Adams (disambiguation).
Tony Adams
Personal information
Full name Tony Alexander Adams MBE
Date of birth 10 October 1966 (1966-10-10) (age 41)
Place of birth    Romford, England
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position Defender (retired)
Club information
Current club Portsmouth (Assistant Manager)
Youth clubs
1980–1984 Arsenal
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1984–2002 Arsenal 504 (32)   
National team
1985–1986
1989–1990
1987–2000		 England U21
England B
England		 005 0(1)
004 0(1)
066 0(5)
Teams managed
2003–2004
2006–		 Wycombe Wanderers
Portsmouth (Assistant Manager)

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

Tony Alexander Adams MBE (born 10 October 1966 in Romford, Greater London) 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] and was included in the Football League 100 Legends. He wore the number 6 shirt for Arsenal and 5 for England.

Contents

[edit] Club career

Tony Adams was born in Oldchurch Hospital Romford, in the London Borough of Havering, East London. He grew up in nearby Dagenham and was a pupil at Hunters Hall Primary School from 1971 to 1978 and then Eastbrook Comprehensive School from 1978 to 1983.

He signed for Arsenal as a schoolboy in 1980. He made his first team debut on November 5, 1983 against Sunderland in the First Division, four weeks after his 17th birthday. He became a regular player in the 1985-86 season, winning his first major trophy in 1987 when he played in the Football League Cup final triumph over Liverpool at Wembley.

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 until his retirement.

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 gained the distinction of being the captain of the first English side to win the League Cup and FA Cup double, lifting the European Cup Winners' Cup the following year.

Despite this success, a battle with alcoholism (which started in the mid 1980s) increasingly blighted his life as he was reportedly often involved in fights in nightclubs. On May 6, 1990, Adams crashed his Ford Sierra into a wall near his house in Southend-on-Sea, and when breathalysed he was found to be more than four times over the legal drink-drive limit. On December 19 that year, at Chelmsford Crown Court, he was jailed for four months (being freed after half of his sentence on 15 February 1991) but after being released, his alcoholism continued and he was involved in further alcoholism-related incidents, including playing through a match during the 1993-94 season despite being hungover, falling down stairs and needing 29 stitches to a head wound, and letting off fire extinguishers with team-mate Ray Parlour in a Pizza Hut where they were being taunted by supporters of rival clubs.

Finally, on 14 September 1996 Adams admitted to the public 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 became one of the most high-profile recovering alcoholics in the UK[2]—his battle with alcohol is heavily detailed in his autobiography, Addicted, which was released in May 1998 to enormous critical acclaim.[2]

His recovery and rehabilitation were helped in no small part by the arrival of Arsène Wenger as Arsenal manager in October 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.

In August 2002, just before the start of the 2002-03 season, Adams retired from professional football after a career spanning almost 20 years, his last match being the last league game of the season at home to Everton (the 2002 FA Cup Final was unusually played before the last league fixtures). 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 again until the 2006-07 season, when it was assigned to Philippe Senderos.

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] Club honours

[edit] International career

Adams made his debut for England against Spain in 1987, and played in Euro 88.

After a highly promising start to his international career, Adams suffered a series of setbacks during the early 1990s. 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[3] and angered Adams[citation needed] as well as leaving many England fans[who?] 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, a loss of form saw them fall down the table.[4] He resigned from Wycombe in November 2004, citing personal reasons. He was succeeded 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 to Harry Redknapp, a position left vacant by the departure of Kevin Bond. In his first season as assistant, Portsmouth finished ninth in the Premier League - their highest standing since the 1950s.

[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

Tony Adams married Poppy Teacher in December 2004, ten months after the birth of their son Atticus. 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 stepdaughter called Clare who was born in 1985 to Jane and her first husband. Tony lives in the village of Coates, which is near to Cirencester in Gloucestershire.

[edit] Statistics


Club Performance League Cup Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
England League FA Cup Total
1983-84 Arsenal First Division 3 0
1984-85 16 0
1985-86 10 0
1986-87 42 6
1987-88 39 2
1988-89 36 4
1989-90 38 5
1990-91 30 1
1991-92 35 2
1992-93 Premier League 35 0
1993-94 35 0
1994-95 27 3
1995-96 21 1
1996-97 28 3
1997-98 26 3
1998-99 26 1
1999-00 21 0
2000-01 26 1
2001-02 10 0
Total England 504 32
Career Total 504 32

[edit] Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Wycombe Wanderers Flag of England November 5, 2003 November 9, 2004 53 12 20 21 22.64

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Referendum: Is Thierry Henry Arsenal's greatest ever player?. Arsenal Land.
  2. ^ a b Paul Whittaker (March 1998). Adams turns his back on alcohol. Alcohol Works. Retrieved on 2007-08-11.
  3. ^ Nigel Clarke. "HODDLE'S SNUB FOR ADAMS; He wasn't told of captaincy", The Mirror, September 25, 1996. 
  4. ^ Adams resigns as Wycombe manager. BBC Sport.

[edit] External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Kenny Sansom		 Arsenal F.C. Captain
1988–2002		 Succeeded by
Patrick Vieira
Preceded by
David Platt		 England football captain
1995–1996		 Succeeded by
Alan Shearer
Awards
Preceded by
Tony Cottee		 PFA Young Player of the Year
1987		 Succeeded by
Paul Gascoigne
v • d • e
England squad - UEFA Euro 1996
1 Seaman • 2 G. Neville • 3 Pearce • 4 Ince • 5 Adams • 6 Southgate • 7 Platt • 8 Gascoigne • 9 Shearer • 10 Sheringham • 11 Anderton • 12 Howey • 13 Flowers • 14 Barmby • 15 Redknapp • 16 Campbell • 17 McManaman • 18 Ferdinand • 19 P. Neville • 20 Stone • 21 Fowler • 22 Walker • Coach: Venables
 Flag of England
v • d • e
England squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup
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
 Flag of England
v • d • e
England squad - UEFA Euro 2000
1 Seaman • 2 G. Neville • 3 P. Neville • 4 Campbell • 5 Adams • 6 Keown • 7 Beckham • 8 Scholes • 9 Shearer • 10 Owen • 11 McManaman • 12 Southgate • 13 Martyn • 14 Ince • 15 Barry • 16 Gerrard • 17 Wise • 18 Barmby • 19 Heskey • 20 Phillips • 21 Fowler • 22 Wright • Coach: Keegan
 Flag of England
v • d • e
Wycombe Wanderers F.C. – Managers

McCormick (1951–52) • Cann (1952–61) • McDonald (1961) • G. Adams (1961–62) • Welsh (1962–64) • Darvill (1964–68) • Lee (1968–76) • Powell (1976–77) • Reardon (1977–78) • Williams (1978–80) • Keen (1980–84) • Bence (1984–86) • Gane (1986–87) • Suddaby (1987–88) • Kelman (1988–90) • O'Neill (1990–95) • Smith (1995–96) • Gregory (1996–98) • Smillie (1998–99) • Sanchez (1999–2003) • T. Adams (2003–04) • Gorman (2004–06) • Lambert (2006–08) • Taylor (2008–)


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