Tony Adams

Born in Romford, Adams grew up in Dagenham and was a pupil at Hunters Hall Primary School from 1971 to 1978 and then Eastbrook Comprehensive School from 1978 to 1983.[7] His cousin is fellow professional footballer Steve MacKenzie.[8]

Adams signed for Arsenal as a schoolboy in 1980. He made his first-team debut on 5 November 1983 against Sunderland in the First Division, four weeks after his 17th birthday. Adams became a regular player in the 1986–87 season, winning his first major trophy that season when playing in the Football League Cup Final win over Liverpool at Wembley.

Together with Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn and Steve Bould, Adams was part of the "famous back four" that lined up in Arsenal's defence, which under George Graham was renowned for its well-disciplined use of the offside trap.[9] On 1 January 1988, he became Arsenal captain at the age of 21;[10] he would remain club captain for the next 14 years until his retirement.

Adams's strong discipline of the defence was considered a factor in Arsenal winning the League Cup in 1986–87 and then the First Division championship twice; the first in 1988–89 after a win over Liverpool in the final game of the season; the second in 1990–91, losing once all season.

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.[11]

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 6 May 1990, Adams crashed his Ford Sierra into a wall in Rayleigh and when breathalysed his blood alcohol level was found to be more than four times the legal drink-drive limit. On 19 December that year, at Southend Crown Court,[10][12][13] he was imprisoned for four months (being freed after half of his sentence on 15 February 1991) He became one of the most high-profile recovering alcoholics in the UK;[14] his battle with alcohol is detailed in his autobiography, Addicted, which was released in May 1998 to enormous critical acclaim.[14]

Tony Adams statue outside the Emirates Stadium.

His recovery and rehabilitation were helped in no small part by the arrival of Arsène Wenger as Arsenal manager in October 1996. Wenger 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 title-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 674 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. It is currently assigned to Gabriel, as of 2020.

Just before his retirement as a player, Adams had applied to become manager of Brentford (who had just missed out on promotion to Division One) after the resignation of Steve Coppell, but his application was rejected.[15]

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's 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 March 2003, just seven months after his retirement and with Arsenal BBC Sport named Adams as the former Arsenal player that the club would most benefit from returning.[16]

In 2004, Adams was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact on the English game, and in 2008 he was placed third in the 50 Greatest Gunners poll on the club's website.

A statue of Adams was placed outside Emirates Stadium in celebration of the club's 125th anniversary on 9 December 2011. Manager Herbert Chapman and Arsenal's all-time top goal scorer Thierry Henry[17] and later Dennis Bergkamp were also immortalised with statues outside the ground.[18]

Adams (left) playing for England at UEFA Euro 1988, as the Netherlands' Marco van Basten scores the first of his three goals

Adams made his debut for England against Spain in 1987, and played in UEFA Euro 1988. England lost all three games, but Adams scored one of England's two goals in the tournament in a 3–1 defeat to the Soviet Union. He was the first player to represent England who had been born after the 1966 World Cup win.

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 UEFA Euro 1992 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 became England captain 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 took the captain's armband from Adams and gave it to Alan Shearer, it was a bitter pill for Adams to swallow. Speaking at a fans' forum in 2008, Adams remarked, "I have some resentment over the way Glenn Hoddle gave the captaincy to Alan Shearer instead of me but I can let that go. I reacted positively. I disagreed with him [Hoddle] and he thought Alan could get more penalties being a centre forward. People know my reaction to that".

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 unsuccessful UEFA 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, having made sixty-six appearances,[19] before Eriksson picked his first squad. He was the last England player to score at the old Wembley Stadium when he scored England's second goal in a 2–0 friendly win over Ukraine on 31 May 2000. This was also his first goal since he scored in a friendly against Saudi Arabia in November 1988, thus making the record for the longest gap between goals for England.

Adams was the first, and remains to date the only, England player to make tournament appearances in three separate decades.

Described as a "stopper" (or man–marking defender) by Tom Sheen of The Guardian in 2014, Adams played as a centre-back. A tall, brave, rugged, physical, and committed defender, his main traits were his leadership, aerial prowess, and his ability to read the game and time his tackles. While initially he was not known to be the most gifted player on the ball from a technical standpoint, he developed this aspect of his game under Wenger, and he later excelled as a ball-playing centre-back, in which he became known for his ability to carry the ball out from the back, as well as his penchant for undertaking individual runs.[4][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] However, he was also known for his lack of pace.[27][28]

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.[29] He resigned from Wycombe in November 2004, citing personal reasons. He was succeeded by John Gorman.

As of 3 June 2017

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.[49] 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 teammate Paul Merson, himself a recovering alcoholic, is also a patron of the charity.

His Arsenal testimonial match helped raise £500,000 for his charity, the Sporting Chance Clinic.[4]

Adams is a Patron for NACOA—a charity that provides information, advice and support for anyone affected by their parents' drinking.[50] He is also a Patron for charity School-Home Support (SHS). SHS helps disadvantaged children and young people overcome barriers to education such as poverty, domestic abuse and housing issues.[51]

Adams remains a popular figure with Arsenal fans. In December 2008, more than six years after he left the club, Adams led out his Portsmouth side onto the pitch at Arsenal to be greeted with the chant "There's only one Tony Adams" by Arsenal fans.[52]

On 30 December 2009, Adams was the guest editor on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

In 2015, Adams underwent heart surgery after suffering from chest pains. After the operation, he stated that it had probably saved his life.[53]

In December 2018, Adams was named as the 29th President of the Rugby Football League from summer 2019, replacing politician Andy Burnham;[3][54] he was succeeded in the honorary role by broadcaster Claire Balding a year later.[55]

• In the 1997 motion picture The Full Monty, Horse (played by Paul Barber) specifically mentions Adams while attempting to explain that a particular part in their dance routine was similar to the "Arsenal offside trap."
• In the debut album Rock Art and the X-Ray Style by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, the opening track is named 'Tony Adams'.
• "Ali in the Jungle", a song by the English rock band The Hours, refers to him in its lyrics.[56]
• In Robert Muchamore's CHERUB series, protagonist James Adams chooses the middle name Anthony and last name Adams after Tony Adams when he joins CHERUB.[57]

Arsenal

• Football League First Division/Premier League: 1988–89, 1990–91,[58] 1997–98, 2001–02[59]
• FA Cup: 1992–93, 1997–98, 2001–02[58]
• Football League Cup: 1986–87, 1992–93[58]
• Football League Centenary Trophy: 1988[60]
• European Cup Winners' Cup: 1993–94[58]
  • Runner-up: 1994–95[61]
• FA Charity Shield: 1991 (Shared),[62] 1998[63]

Individual

• PFA Young Player of the Year: 1986–87[64]
• PFA First Division/Premier League Team of the Year: 1986–87, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97[65]
• PFA Team of the Century (1907–2007):
  • Team of the Century 1997–2007[66]
  • Overall Team of the Century[67]
• Premier League 10 Seasons Awards: (1992–93 – 2001–02)
  • Domestic Team of the Decade[68]
  • Overall Team of the Decade[68]
• Premier League 20 Seasons Awards: (1992–93 – 2011–12)
  • Public choice Fantasy Teams of the 20 Seasons[69]
  • Panel choice Fantasy Teams of the 20 Seasons[69]
• English Football Hall of Fame: 2004[65]
• Football League 100 Legends[65]

Orders

• Member in The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE): (1999 Birthday Honours)[70]

• List of footballers in England by number of league appearances (500+)
• List of one-club men

General

• Adams, Tony. Addicted. (London: CollinsWillow, 1998) ISBN 0-00-218795-7

Specific

• Tony Adams – FIFA competition record
• Tony Adams at Soccerbase
• Tony Adams management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Tony Adams at Englandstats.com
• Sporting Chance
• Tony Adams at The Highbury Inn