Tony Alexander Adams was born on 10 October 1966 and is an English former football manager and player.
32 Facts About Tony Adams
2.
Tony Adams spent his entire playing career of 19 years as a centre-back at Arsenal, making 672 total appearances.
3.
Tony Adams won 66 caps for England between 1987 and 2000 and played at four major tournaments.
4.
When his playing career finished Tony Adams went into football management, spending periods in charge of Wycombe Wanderers, Portsmouth, Azerbaijani side Gabala and Spanish side Granada.
5.
Tony Adams made his first-team debut on 5 November 1983 against Sunderland in the First Division, four weeks after his 17th birthday.
6.
Together with Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn and Steve Bould, Tony 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.
7.
On 6 May 1990, Tony 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.
8.
Tony Adams became one of the most high-profile recovering alcoholics in the UK; his battle with alcohol is detailed in his autobiography, Addicted, which was released in May 1998 to enormous critical acclaim.
9.
Tony Adams reflected in 2020 that Wenger understood his psychology, and knew of the dangers of alcohol as his parents ran a pub.
10.
Tony Adams played 674 matches for Arsenal and was the most successful captain in the club's history.
11.
Just before his retirement as a player, Tony Adams had applied to become manager of Brentford after the resignation of Steve Coppell, but his application was rejected.
12.
In 2004, Tony 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.
13.
Tony Adams made his debut for England against Spain in 1987, and played in UEFA Euro 1988.
14.
Tony Adams was the first player to represent England who had been born after the 1966 World Cup win.
15.
Tony Adams was surprisingly left out of the 1990 FIFA World Cup squad by manager Bobby Robson, missed UEFA Euro 1992 due to injury, whilst England failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
16.
Later that year, he made headlines for several statements in his autobiography Addicted, criticising manager Glenn Hoddle for his management of David Beckham and Paul Gascoigne, and for making Alan Shearer captain instead of Tony Adams; he called Gascoigne an alcoholic, which was denied by the player's representatives.
17.
Tony Adams was the first, and remains to date the only, England player to make tournament appearances in three separate decades.
18.
Tony Adams took over the team that were in last place in the Football League Second Division.
19.
Tony Adams resigned from Wycombe on 9 November 2004, with the club in 17th, citing personal reasons.
20.
Tony Adams later had a short spell seconded to Utrecht as a first team trainee coach in January and February 2006.
21.
Tony Adams joined Portsmouth as assistant manager to Harry Redknapp in June 2006, a position left vacant by the departure of Kevin Bond.
22.
Tony Adams was appointed caretaker manager of Portsmouth in October 2008, alongside Joe Jordan, following the departure of Harry Redknapp to Tottenham Hotspur.
23.
Tony Adams was sacked in February 2009 after just 16 games in charge in which Portsmouth picked up only 10 points.
24.
In May 2010, Tony Adams signed a three-year contract to manage Azerbaijani club Gabala FC of the Azerbaijan Premier League.
25.
In October 2012, Tony Adams returned to Gabala in the capacity of Sporting Director.
26.
Tony Adams lost all seven games as manager and was sacked.
27.
In September 2000, as a result of his own experiences with alcoholism and drug addiction, Tony 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.
28.
Tony Adams's former Arsenal and England teammate Paul Merson, himself a recovering alcoholic, is a patron of the charity.
29.
Tony Adams is a Patron for charity School-Home Support.
30.
On 30 December 2009, Tony Adams was the guest editor on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
31.
In 2015, Tony Adams underwent heart surgery after suffering from chest pains.
32.
In December 2018, Tony Adams was named as the 29th President of the Rugby Football League from summer 2019, replacing politician Andy Burnham; he was succeeded in the honorary role by broadcaster Clare Balding a year later.