Tony Adams In Management

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,754]

Well today he was appointed as Portsmouths new manger.

How do we all think he will get on?

Straight away you think of how inspirational he was as both a player and a captain. Today in his press confrence he praised the players workrate in their game last weekend. Now it's a bit premature to suggest it, but perhaps that shows that his winners mentality may be rubbing off on to some of his players.

And In Wenger and Redknapp he will have picked up tips from two of the best that The Premiership has to offer.

Looking at the neagatives, he has already had an ill fated spell, in a far less demanding league when he managed Wycombe.

And you also have to question if a couple of spells as a trainee coach at Feyernoord & Utrecht, along with a couple of years as an assistant is going to have improved him enough as a coach to compete at this level, with the very best.

Although I hope he does well, I do have my concerns.

[Mike Newells Sexist Army 2]

Disaster waiting to happen, he ballsed up Wycombe and got them relegated and Portsmouth seemingly have no money.

[blueben_d 40]

he can only work with the tools he's given. Think looking at his reign as wycombe manager is a bit pointless as they were utter pish and the club was losing money so there was nothing he could really do.

Portsmouth is a well set up club going in the right direction - if he mucks this up then there's no hope for him as a manager. I don't expect him to be as good as 'arry, but pompy should be fairly stable under Adams - he is unquestionably a great leader.

[tommy2212 151]

6 months - might see out the season - pompy are skint - he might prove people wrong but i doubt it

[TMWWBK 0]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

I doubt Adams will be another Sammy Lee/Chris Hutchings, he just has far more about him. January will make or break the season he has, and he must try and hang on to the likes of Johnson, Defoe and Crouch. Diarra is virtually already gone.

[CanadianGer 1]

Quite apart from his skills as a manager, as a player he spent the bulk of his career in a team famous for dull, defensive football and a reliance on the offside trap.

Even if he wins games, the chances of the football being good to watch are 0.00000001%.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,754]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

Keown is a great pundit

He's much like Ray Wilkins in the sense that he was wasted doing that.

[Muff 245]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

I doubt Adams will be another Sammy Lee/Chris Hutchings, he just has far more about him. January will make or break the season he has, and he must try and hang on to the likes of Johnson, Defoe and Crouch. Diarra is virtually already gone.

Was about to mention both Bould and Keown. I think with those two alongside Adams and Jordan - would do a good job.

[Boab 73]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

Keown is a great pundit

He's much like Ray Wilkins in the sense that he was wasted doing that.

Though Ray is at Chelsea now, having replaced Steve Clarke.

[rfc_no1fan 13]

They wont go down this year, but they will go down next year

[Scott-RFC 308]

Cant see him being a success tbh

They need to keep a hold of that Belhadj too, he looked outstanding at the weekend

Some battle between Traore and him for LB

[Blue Stars Bearette 1]

first thing he has to do is get rid of that purple cardie

[Davy 68]

It will be tough for him.

Similar to Burley taking over Scotland if you will, in the sense that the previous manager has taken the side as far as they are capable of going and it's all downhill from here.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,754]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

Keown is a great pundit

He's much like Ray Wilkins in the sense that he was wasted doing that.

Though Ray is at Chelsea now, having replaced Steve Clarke.

I know

[DecoLally 0]

He knows the players well, hope he does well

[Boab 73]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

Keown is a great pundit

He's much like Ray Wilkins in the sense that he was wasted doing that.

Though Ray is at Chelsea now, having replaced Steve Clarke.

I know

Sorry Though I agree he was wasted but appreciated by the fans I think on Sky.

[BlueSuedeSambas 53,754]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

Keown is a great pundit

He's much like Ray Wilkins in the sense that he was wasted doing that.

Though Ray is at Chelsea now, having replaced Steve Clarke.

I know

Sorry Though I agree he was wasted but appreciated by the fans I think on Sky.

Despite all their millions, I don't think Sky have anybody who comes close to him.

I don't know why but when Wilkins spoke I simply couldn't help but listen to every word.

So knowledgeable and a gentleman to match

[Boab 73]

He'll be up against it from the off, but bringing in the likes of Martin Keown (who is a fantastic pundit with a UEFA Pro license) and Steve Bould (Arsenal's academy director) will be a massive help to him.

Keown is a great pundit

He's much like Ray Wilkins in the sense that he was wasted doing that.

Though Ray is at Chelsea now, having replaced Steve Clarke.

I know

Sorry Though I agree he was wasted but appreciated by the fans I think on Sky.

Despite all their millions, I don't think Sky have anybody who comes close to him.

I don't know why but when Wilkins spoke I simply couldn't help but listen to every word.

So knowledgeable and a gentleman to match

Perhaps David Platt but yes, I agree.

Very unfair when people said Ray was too nice to be a Manager.

[bringonthbarca 25]

Cant see him being a success tbh

They need to keep a hold of that Belhadj too, he looked outstanding at the weekend

Some battle between Traore and him for LB

Maybe goin forward but positional sense at the back is terrible!

[Boab 73]

Tony the thinker has plenty to learn at Portsmouth

Tony Adams has reinvented himself as a serene and intellectual figure but the jury is out as to whether his strong personality will be an asset or hindrance in his role as Portsmouth manager Picture: PA

Published Date: 01 November 2008

By TOM LAPPIN

ENGLAND'S training camp for the European Championships of 2000 was in the leafy Belgian spa town helpfully called Spa. In an unimpressive tournament under the imminent emotional wreck that was Kevin Keegan high spots were in short supply. One was the unlimited supply of excellent Cote d'Or chocolate bars. The other was the aura of benign serenity surrounding Tony Adams.

It was difficult not to make comparisons between the incidents delineated in his peerless confessional Addicted, outlining a car-crash of a life (often literally), and this man who spoke in the blissful koans of a Dalai Lama of the back-four. Adams was no longer central to the England cause, but was easily the most self-assured member of Keegan's squad. The more jaded and cynical members of the press pack (all of them then) were inclined to mock, but there remained something elementally impressive about a man who had completely reinvented himself.

At the start of this century Adams was the concentrated personification of what was happening to English football (although nobody bothered to tell Keegan). The old clogging donkeys, all high balls, ruthless slide tackles, get-stuck-in attitude and 20 pints after the game were being replaced by elegant Continental technique, possession, calm, intellect. The remarkable thing about Adams, an extraordinary footballer, is that he contrived to excel in both worlds.

Eight years on he is a Premier League manager at Portsmouth and the jury is out as to whether his powerful personality will prove an asset or a millstone in his new job.

His leadership skills shouldn't be in doubt. At Arsenal he was such a natural captain you wondered whether he had emerged from the womb with an armband. For Terry Venables he was an inspirational England skipper. One of Glenn Hoddle's failures at man management was to hand the relatively reticent Alan Shearer the job. Adams was very unimpressed, while the late great Joe Strummer even wrote a song about it, contriving to get bemused punk rockers from Los Angeles to Rhode Island to yell along to the refrain make Tony Adams captain!

Inspirational captaincy doesn't always translate into effective management. There have been signs that the radical change in Adams's personality from the definitive lager-swilling lad to an aloof Romford mystic fluent in the language of psycho-babble has ill-equipped him for the rougher business of management.

Certainly his career in the dugout has been patchy. At Wycombe Wanderers, reports emerged that he was a distant and impatient boss, frustrated by a lack of money for new signings, and an inability to mould limited resources into a team that would reflect his ideas. Brief spells in Holland, as a coach at Feyenoord and Utrecht, were learning experiences that weren't entirely happy, although at least he didn't acquire a Dutch accent.

He excelled as a sidekick to Harry Redknapp because their skills complemented each other. Redknapp was the avuncular boss, Adams the unforgiving technician. They played the roles of good cop and bad cop in a way that proved effective. As a boss in his own right, Adams may have to learn how to lighten up again, to unbuckle some of that imposing self-discipline.

Adams regards himself as a thinker, an intellectual. His five-year-old son is called Atticus, when the tradition among football people is to name their sons after cars or holiday resorts rather than protagonists from literary classics. In football he has his own philosophies, an inclination towards devising intricate stratagems rather than relying on the basics of form and attitude.

The concern though is that, this season at least, Adams will have to put aside the high-minded theories. A cursory look at the fate of Juande Ramos, another theoretician, should bring that home. As Redknapp is showing at Spurs, one of the most important tasks for a new manager is establishing a working relationship with the players. The ironical danger is that as a manager Adams could repeat the mistakes of the boss he fell out with for England, Hoddle, an isolated spiritually-aware individual with a keen sense of his own worth who failed to make a down-to earth connection with his players.

Its far too early to make that call, but Adams has to have the humility to realise he has plenty to learn. Portsmouth may have won the FA Cup and qualified for Europe last season, but this year they are just another Premier League struggler with financial woes and a disparate squad that the manager has to deploy effectively. It doesn't help that Adams has already said that it won't be his team until next season. Apart from seeding doubts in the players, that is presumptuous. If Portsmouth find a buyer, or they slip into the relegation zone, then the likelihood is that it won't be his team at all.

Wednesday's display at Anfield was promising but ultimately the result was a disappointment. If Adams had been a little bolder and selected Jermain Defoe, or introduced him earlier, Portsmouth might have escaped with a point at least. A more revealing test comes this afternoon against Wigan. Its a fixture that pits Adams against Steve Bruce, another former centre-half with intellectual aspirations, whose crime novels (essentially ludicrous the critics gushed) never got anywhere near the sales figures of Adams's compelling autobiography. Instead of comparing Amazon chart positions after the game though, Adams might be advised to take some advice from the admirable Bruce about the rude practicalities of management in the Premier League.

PROFILE

HIGHS

• Makes Arsenal debut aged 17 in 1983 and signs professional contract the following year.

• Wins first England cap in a 4-2 win against Spain in 1987, and in the same year helps Arsenal win the League Cup, beating Liverpool 2-1 in the final at Wembley Stadium.

• Appointed captain of Arsenal as a 21-year-old in 1988 and leads the Gunners to First Division title in 1989 with famous 2-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield.

• Appointed England captain in 2000.

• Takes first job as manager when appointed by Wycombe in 2003.

• Lands first Premier League coaching job in 2005 when Harry Redknapp makes him assistant manager at Portsmouth.

• Adams is installed as Portsmouth's new manager on October 28 2008.

LOWS

• Jailed for four months in December 1990 after admitting drink-driving offences following an accident in May, and serves two months. Struggles with alcoholism and in 1996 reveals his battle to beat his addiction.

• Leads England in the last international at the old Wembley but they lose 1-0 to Germany.

• Adams sees Wycombe relegated at the end of the 2004 season as they finish bottom of League One after just six league wins all season. Adams resigns six months later

http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Tony-th...enty.4651149.jp