Life in Football Manager

It’s been a while since I last wrote one of these Managerial Reversals about our managers taking up new roles at different clubs, to see what all this is about and for links to the other stories then please view our managerial reversal page.

Tony Adams was born in a fantastic year for English football, in London 1966. Adams started his footballing career as school boy when he signed for Arsenal Schoolboys. It wasn’t long before he made his first appearance in the first team not long after his 17th birthday. Becoming a regular in the 1987 season and winning the League Cup of that season with Arsenal, beating Liverpool. Adams was probably part of one of the most famous back line’s in history during his time at with The Gunners, the Famous four was made up of Lee Dixon, Steve Bould and Nigel Winterburn playing under manager George Graham.

The former Arsenal and England captain never left The Gunners and played with them till 2002 and in that time playing under Arsene Wenger and enjoying masses of success. Adams walked away with four league titles, three FA cups, two League Cups and one Cup Winners Cup. But the success was something that Tony never always handled well and in 1996 Tony Adams admitted to a long battle with alcoholism and in that time even crashing his car in a drunk driven incident. But despite those problems Adams overcome them to become one of the most respected men in Football and revered at Arsenal.

After finishing his career at the top of his game in 2002, it wasn’t long before Tony was back on the footballing scene and this time in a management capacity. Taking over a troubled Wycombe Wanderers in the November to help steer them clear of relegation, but it was too late and in 2004 the club were relegated and Tony resigned from the club due to personal reasons. But from that experience Tony decided to look for more experience and training elsewhere. Tony left, accepting a coaching role in Holland with Feyenoord taking control of their reserve side and then spending a short time at Utrecht. Now Tony Adams is currently the understudy to one of the England’s best managers Harry Redknapp, Tony Adams now the assistant at Portsmouth has had much success with the Pompey winning the FA cup and finishing 9th in the Premiership.

So now Tony will get back into the managerial seat and take control of the club where he spent all his career, the fans will love him and the he will know and love the club. But can he take the young and talented club to success? Only FM can tell.

Season 2007/08

Tony Adams seemed be able to identfy easily the areas in which Arsenal were lacking through the past couple of years, first of all something that they have been crying out for is some experience to spur on the young players at the club. Secondly it was an area which he knows very well, the defence which he sured up spending £23 million in total in his first season.  The first player to arrive was Mauro Camoranesi the 31 year old Italian arrived from Juventus for £13.5 million, the winger looks fantastic down the right wing able to cross the ball to any pin point of grass and despite his age can jinx past a defender like a 21 year old, a good signing by Adams. The second signing who arrived in the Janurary window was John Heitinga the Dutchman commanded a £7.5 million bill and will act as a backup for Toure and Gallas.

The English Premier League got off to a good start a 3-0 win against Newcastle giving Camoranesi a début goal, the form continued win after win after win, but it was the away games which Arsenal stumbled at drawing to Portsmouth and Everton while on their travels. A first defeat didn’t come until November when Blackburn managed to take a 2-1 win away from the Emirates in a game full of penalties, an 82nd minute spot kick from Rigters was enough to send the three points Blackburns way. But after that form continued as normal, The game to big rivals Manchester United came about late in the year. The 1st December marking the busy period Arsenal travelled up north to Old Trafford. Rosicky scoring a fantastic shot as he ran towards United’s defence to put Arsenal in the lead, but right into the final minutes of the game in the 86th minute veteran Ryan Giggs saved the point for the title contenders. But the end of December came a loss of form and loss of league position especially failing to score against local rivals at home a 0-0 draw against Spurs marked the start of the slump. Next Torres and Gerrard sunk The Gunners at Liverpool and then a loss up in the North East to Newcastle. But they quickly turned the form around again, but the difference between Arsenal and the rest of the teams was that they weren’t consistent enough, they drew silly game and lost against other title contenders, Van Persie though helping them beat United when the arrived at the Emirates. Arsenal were out of the race for the league pretty early on and were competing against United for 3rd place, the win and the draw against the Manchester side gave Arsenal the advantage as they pipped them by goal difference.

In the Cup competitions Tony Adams proved very successful, the League Cup campaign kicking off at Sheffield United 3-0 win brush them against, Plymouth once again gave some of the young stars a chance to shine, Arsenal went down with an early shock going 1-0 at the Emirates in 8 minutes, but Bendnter and Walcott quickly tipped the balance in Arsenal’s favour. Once it was down to the quarter finals, Adams started taking the competition more seriously, the competition which he first won in 1987 was looking good for his managerial silverware. Playing a strong side at Goodison, Arsenal did enough with a Gallas header to send them through for a tie against rivals Tottenham. The first game was at the Emirates, and Arsenal hit early Camoranesi from the kick off got the ball down the wing, running straight for goal he hit a fabulous long shot to put the game 1-0 in the first minute. Van Persie and Eduardo both scored in quick succession to put the game beyond Spurs before Robin Van Persie put the final nail in the coffin just after Malbranque pulled an away game for Spurs which will probably made little difference. The away game was a little tighter, but still Arsenal came out on top Fabregas scoring on the hour to deflate the Tottenham fans and Eduardo sealed it. A bad defeat going down 6-2 to local rivals, but now it was time to face United at Wembley. In a tight game at Wembley it was anybodies game, no one really took control, but their was man that was the difference on the day and that was as usual Ronaldo who scored in the 70th minute to win the game for United. Rio Ferdinand having a fantastic day meant it even more difficult for any of the Gunners to fire.

The FA Cup drew up Reading in the 3rd round, The Royals not doing themselves any favours as they brought down Bendtner in the box for Van Persie to score early, Cesc Fabregas then scored to win the game in which was more impressed by the young Theo Walcott who is staking his claim on the first team. Again in the 4th round a lower league side faced Arsenal and just like in the League Cup Arsenal were stunned early. former Liverpool man Nardiello scoring in the first minute, But despite Heitinga getting sent off just after the first half Arsenal managed to claim a 2-1 win. Fulham were then easily passed at Craven Cottage 3-0 for a draw against Portsmouth who travelled North to London. In a heated game with 3 red cards once again Heitinga amongst the the pack again. But a late goal by Adebayor gave The Gunners a place in the semi finals against London rivals West Ham. The difference in this game was the team that was able to make their chance count, unfortunately for Adams that team was West Ham. Ashton scoring early on in the game before Camoranesi quickly equalised but that only sparked a flurry of goal both coming from Bellamy scoring 2 in 10 minutes gave West Ham a place in the final.

Europe threw up a tough draw for Arsenal after they qualified beating Rosenborg. Valencia, Marseilles and Red Star Belgrade. First up was the Red Star two goals by Eduardo secured a victory, before Arsenal travelled to Spain and the Spanish were typically strong at home Zigic scoring the only goal for Valencia. The French also proved difficult as they crossed the Channel to play Arsenal, Gunners target Samir Nasri showing why he was attracting so much attention and stole a point for Marsielle. But in the return game Van Persie showed why Arsenal are one of the favourites for the competition. Another two wins secured a place in the next round for The Gunners, Van Persie being a big hit when it came to games in Europe scoring in each of the games. The knock-out stages Arsenal took on Italian giants Roma and what a tough two games it was for club, In the Italian capital the game finished 1-1 Van Persie getting the away goal for Arsenal. When the return leg arrived at the Emirates, Perotta quickly got the Italian teams back into the game cancelled out the away goal, but Van Persie is true European form forced extra time. But when Pizzaro was quickly tumbled down in the box, it marked disaster for Arsenal and Taddei put Roma in front with the advantage of the away goal, Hleb’s late equaliser wasn’t enough and knocked Arsenal out.

Impressing in a debut season were both Eduardo and Adams signing Camoransi who gave Arsenal attacking power and experience Camoransi even though was a pricey buy was deemed the best signing of the season. Van Persie thrived off this and taking 28 goals for the season in all competitions and finishing with the EPL golden boot. The usual characters were on good form as you would expect, Cesc providing many assists and winning Young Player of The Year, but the great thing about this side was that everyone was creating goals for the team and young players Bendter and Walcott got the chance of putting the ball in the back of the net themselves. The underachiever for the season though was Adebayor who failed to impress playing 15 games he only managed a 6.35 average and 4 goals, he will have to do better when competing against alot of talented forwards.

Season 2008/09

Tony decided to spend big once again, something unsual when it came to Arsene Wenger’s days. Adding to the Arsenal talent was a 22 year old with 49 Mexican caps, Andres Guardado the left winger will make Arsenal a even bigger threat now down both of the flanks with Camoransi on the other end. The guy likes a shot at goal and give him any chance and he can be dangerous, the pacey Mexican looks a decent player who has yet to reach his peak, he commanded a £25million bill from Deportivo. Next in was probably a replacement for Camoransi who was now entering the late stage of his career, Alessandro Rosina who arrived from Torino for £19.5million. Leaving Arsenal was last years disappointment Adebayor who went to Lazio for £6.25 million. Diaby and Diarra both left for Newcastle and Senderos for Juventus. Finally Mathieu Flamini left in the January for Fiorentina for a cut price £1.6 million.

The season started with a tough game away to the league champions Liverpool. This game was all about who came out the blocks the quickest and this time it was The Gunners who fired first, William Gallas getting on the first corner of the game, just a minute later Van Persie doubled Arsenals lead. Kuyt scored early in the second half but they couldn’t break down a good performance by Arsenal. Result carried on in the same way and Adams quickly found himself at the head of the table, the first two months only saw Arsenal drop 4 points, a single goal from Crespo at Villa park marked the first defeat of the season and West Ham did well at home the Arsenal defence holding on for a goalless draw.

Good form continued between the months running up to the New Year, a 3-1 loss to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was made easier when at home Arsenal gunned down Manchester United Rosina and Bendtner taking the credit that day. It was just a pity that straight after the United game Derby managed to humiliate the Arsenal team and take a 1 goal victory at Pride Park.

Into 2009 and it was definitely a new year as teams started to reap their revenge on Arsenal, Torres and Crouch cancelling out Rosicky’s goal to become victors and end a 13 game run without dropping a point at home in the league campaign. It wasn’t helped by the sending off of sulky captain Gallas with United to play in the next game, Manchester United took full advantage of the missing Gallas as Rio Ferdinand scored the only goal of the game, in the 60th minute of the game. This again was not helped as Gallas replacement Djourou was sent off only half an hour earlier. After that it was hard for Arsenal to get a run of wins back together again, dropping points all over the place and dropping places. Tony Adams inconsistent 2009 only earned him a 3rd place in the Premiership, disappointing after the good start.

Europe started off with an early shake as Ukraine side Dinamo Kiev were home victors in the 3rd round qualifiers. But two Eduardo goals plus one from Clichy before he was stretched off made sure that the London fans would see Champions League football next season. The group was fairly easy; Lyon, Sporting Lisbon and Belgium side Anderlacht. Needless to say that Arsenal topped the table after qualifying winning their first 4 games, Arsenal took the gas off the and cruised to the end taking a point from Sporting and Lyon in the final two games. But they then forgot to put their foot back on the pedal and the German side Werder Bremen won 1-0 both home and away to knock Tony Adams out of the competition. Pretty hard breaking as Arsenal rued missed chance after chance in the return leg at the Emirates.

The cups were no better really, inconsistent form is not something you want to have when it comes to cup competitions It was fierce rivals Spurs who were the first to knock them out of a competition. The League Cup 4th round tie at the Emirates was dominated by the 10 men of Tottenham, Lennon scoring in the 4th minute. Van Persie thought to have gave Arsenal a lifeline as he came out early in the 2nd half to equalise the scoring, but a Berbatov penalty was enough to see Spurs through. Bendtner shined in the FA cup his two goals against Blackburn up North and then his goal against West Brom set up a 5th round tie back in the North West to Manchester United. But home advantage really did show through as Man U dominated the game from the off, an Arsenal side who had enough of the ball just couldn’t get it past the the back four. Tevez and Ronaldo scoring to kick Tony Adams out and give him another trophyless season.

Player ratings for the season were rather disappointing only 10 players reaching over a 7.00 rating, the usual characters topping the charts Cesc hitting winning the Gunners hearts this season playing over 49 games and coming out with a 7.37 enough to earn him the player of the year award. But what Tony Adams has been lacking over the season is goals, not one of the players managed to score over 20 goals, something needed by any top team. But on a positive note, youngsters Walcott and Bendter show that they are the future of the club and could be those players that will start producing those sort of performances over a season.