Adams Parked

Those of you frequent these pages often will be aware that I'm prone to lament the lack of time afforded football managers in the modern era. However, there is an exception to this rule, and so I was genuinely glad to hear that Portsmouth have decided to sack Tony Adams. I have nothing against Adams, nor for that matter Portsmouth, and I am not usually prone to these sort of moments of schadenfreude, unless of course they involve John Terry. No, I am please if only because it seems that at last Tony Adams will be put out of his misery.

Has anyone ever looked more unhappy in their job than Tony Adams? If he were a shop assistant or an office assistant he would have been phoning in sick within weeks of taking on his new job; by now he would have run out of fake family member funerals to attend and would have mastered the art of forging his doctor's signature. In a reign so short it has been referred to by its length in days rather than months by some media today Adams never looked comfortable, and seemed to be heading towards being sacked, or a personal breakdown from the moment they changed the name on the manager's office door.

Less than a month into his new role Adams was quoted as saying; "I don't actually like people. I'm a loner and if I had my way I'd just walk my dogs every day, never talk to anyone then die." A frighteningly bleak statement, made even more chilling by the fact that Adams does not own a dog. OK, I made the last bit up, but just weeks into his tenure Adams had made it clear to the watching world that he was not a happy man. He didn't want to be there, in front of the sponsors logo each week attempting to answer inane questions about another defeat, so why was he ever put in that position?

There is no denying Adams was a great player, his England caps and domestic honours testify that, but what managerial form he had was barely worth adding to his CV. Adams took charge of Wycombe in 2003 and steered them to the foot of League One and into League Two, winning just twelve matches, one for every month he was in charge at Adams Park; safe to say the ground was named long before Tony's legacy. With that in mind promoting Adams to the role of manager at Portsmouth was akin to putting the manager of Boo.com in charge of Nike.
Yes, Adams did a poor job at Portsmouth, but the poor bloke should never have been entrusted with the job in the first place. Having a great playing career is never a definate indication that you will become a great manager, as any supporter who has seen a suited Brian Robson hold aloft his club's scarf for a gaggle of photographers will certainly testify