English Football – Tony Adams Named New Boss of Portsmouth

Tony Adams was selected as Portsmouth new manager and signed a two and half year contract with the club. This happened just two days after Harry Redknapp the club resigned to join the Tottenham Red Spurs.

Adams had been Redknapp’s assistant for the last two years and when he left the team last Sunday, Adams was appointed in temporary charge of the team.

He has stated that he is really pleased with the opportunity that the club is given him. He also added that this is the best job in the world and that he will never think on turning it down and he will do the best for the club.

"I am going to take this opportunity and risk, because Harry's done a fantastic job for this club and is a hard act to follow. But I think it is my time, I think I am ready.” Adams said.

Peter Storrie, the executive chairman at Portsmouth, confirmed the information and explained that they think Adams has been doing a great work this past two years as assistant coach, and that after talking to him, they realized he deserved the opportunity of managing the club. Peter also expressed that Adams is very popular among the fans and the people working at the club, due to the fact that he is a recognized former player in Europe.

On the other hand, there have also been rumours about the club not doing good financially but about this, Storrie declared that the finances in the club are just fine and that he does not want to refer to that subject anymore.

There were some other candidates for the position that Harry Reknapp had as manager, but Tony got some extra points when Redknapp backed him up to take the position. There were also some rumours about Adams saying to people close to him that if the club didn’t give him the permanent position he would leave from Portsmouth, however, if the rumours were true or not, now it is irrelevant since he got the job.

Tony Adams started his career as a football player with the Arsenal at his early age of 17 years old in 1983 and he is still considered among the greatest players the club has had. He became a regular player of the team in season 1985-86. He also played internationally with the England’s national team. With Arsenal, he won four division titles, three FA Cups, two Football League Cups, a UEFA Winners' Cup, and three FA Community Shields.

His fight against alcoholism and some injuries left him out of the football fields for some years in the early 90’s. With the great support given by Arsenal’s manager he was able to recover himself and kept playing with the team and England until mid 2002.

In addition, Adams started his managerial career in late 2003 with the Wycombe Wanderers. He stayed with them for 1 year and then resigned in 2004. On 2005 he took a trainee coaching position on a reserve/junior side team in the Dutch team of Feyenoord. Adams started his position as assistant in Portsmouth in June 2006 and at his first season, the club ended up in the ninth position of the Premier League; their best since 1950 and they also won the 2007-08 FA Cup.

This is a great opportunity for Adams at this early stage of his managerial career. Adams has expressed that he will dedicate all his experience and ideas to try to take the team to another level and be able to achieve great things for Portsmouth in the times to come.