Micky Adams

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Micky Adams

Personal information
Full name	Michael Richard Adams
Date of birth	8 November 1961 (1961-11-08) (age 47)
Place of birth	Sheffield, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Full back
Club information
Current club	Port Vale (manager)
Youth career
	Sheffield United
Senior career1
Years	Club	Apps (Gls)2
1979–1983	Gillingham	092 (5)
1983–1987	Coventry City	090 (9)
1987–1989	Leeds United	073 (2)
1989–1994	Southampton	144 (7)
1994	Stoke City	010 (3)
1994–1997	Fulham	029 (8)
1997	Swansea City	000 (0)
1997–1998	Brentford	000 (0)
Teams managed
1996–1997	Fulham (player-manager)
1997	Swansea City (player-manager)
1997–1998	Brentford
1999	Nottingham Forest (caretaker-manager)
1999–2001	Brighton & Hove Albion
2002–2004	Leicester City
2005–2007	Coventry City
2008–2009	Brighton & Hove Albion
2009–	Port Vale
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. 2 Appearances (Goals)

Michael Richard "Micky" Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional footballer who is the current manager of English side Port Vale.

As a player, he spent long periods as a full back for Gillingham, Coventry City, Leeds United and Southampton, before shorter spells as a player with Stoke City and Fulham. He was then appointed Fulham's player-manager, before spells as manager at Swansea City, Brentford, Brighton & Hove Albion (twice), Leicester City and Coventry City, before taking up his current position at Port Vale.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Managerial career 2.1 Fulham 2.2 Swansea City 2.3 Brentford 2.4 Brighton 2.5 Leicester 2.6 Coventry City 2.7 Colchester 2.8 Return to Brighton 2.9 Port Vale 3 Managerial statistics 4 Honours 4.1 As a manager 4.1.1 Promotions 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Playing career

Adams was born in Sheffield and was an associate schoolboy with Sheffield United before joining Gillingham as an apprentice in August 1978, going on to sign as a professional in November 1979. Adams started his playing career as a left-winger before being converted into a left-back.^[1]

After 103 appearances for Gillingham he moved on to Coventry City in 1983 for either a £75,000^[2] or £85,000^[3] fee. He played over 100 games for City over a four year period before Leeds United took him to the Second Division for a £110,000 fee. His return to First Division football came in March 1989 when Southampton offered Leeds £250,000 for his services.^[2]

Adams joined Southampton just before the 1989 transfer deadline and made his debut for the "Saints" taking Derek Statham's place at left-back in a 3–1 defeat by Arsenal on 25 March. Adams retained his place for the next seven games, before losing out to Gerry Forrest for the last few matches of the season.^[4] Adams played the first seven matches of the 1989–90 season before losing his place through injury to Francis Benali, who then began to form a useful full-back partnership with Jason Dodd. In April 1990, Adams was recalled alongside new signing Aleksei Cherednik and they played out the remainder of the season together.^[5]

Adams began to establish himself as the first-choice left-back at the start of the 1990–91 season, partnered first by Cherednik and then Dodd, and finally by Barry Horne on the right.^[6] Once he had overcome the niggling injuries of his first two seasons at The Dell, Adams' consistency began to ensure that the left-back position was more or less his own, with his energetic forays along the touchline helping to give the side an extra cutting edge.^[1] His first goals for the Saints came in the 1991–92 season against Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United.^[7] Against West Ham on 14 April 1992, he scored the only goal with a far-post volley in the 88th minute after Matt Le Tissier had created space to whip over a cross: the goal was described as "a moment of true class in an otherwise ordinary game".^[8]

During the inaugural season of the Premier League, Adams missed only four games, making 38 appearances with four goals, with his right-wing partner now being Jeff Kenna, with manager Ian Branfoot playing Dodd and Benali further forward.^[9] The 1993–94 Premiership season was Adams' last in the top flight; he started the season as the preferred choice at left-back before losing out to Simon Charlton. His final game for Southampton came in a 1–0 defeat at home to Norwich City, immediately following which Branfoot was sacked as manager, to be replaced by Alan Ball.^[10] Adams never played under Ball and was loaned out to Stoke City in March 1994 until the end of the season.^[1] In his five years with Southampton, Adams made a total of 174 first-team appearances, scoring seven goals.^[1]

In July 1994, he joined Fulham where he was re-united with Ian Branfoot in preparation for the Cottagers 1994–95 season. After taking over the management reins at Fulham, Adams continued as a player-manager, but increasingly focused on the management side of his game before retiring as a player following his spell at Brentford.

[edit] Managerial career

Before going into management Adams had already demonstrated his ability to spot talented youngsters. Around 1994 he spotted Wayne Bridge playing for Olivers Battery, he recommended Bridge to Southampton, who then signed him as a trainee in July 1996.^[11]

[edit] Fulham

Adams moved into management with Fulham, taking over from Ian Branfoot in March 1996 with the London club languishing in 91st place in the league pyramid. After he had help the club avoid non-league football, Fulham were promoted to Division Two as runners-up in the following season's final table.^[12]

Following the takeover of Fulham by Mohammed Al Fayed, Adams was dismissed as manager in September 1997 in favour of the higher profile combination of Kevin Keegan (director of football) and Ray Wilkins (head coach).^[12]

[edit] Swansea City

Shortly after his dismissal from Fulham, Adams made a quick return to management with Swansea City in Division Three but left after thirteen days and three matches in charge. Adams claimed that the money he had been promised to strengthen the team had not been forthcoming.^[12]

[edit] Brentford

Before 1997 was out, Adams took his third job of the 1997–98 season when he was named manager of Brentford in place of Eddie May who had been appointed in the summer of 1997 following the purchase of the Club by previous manager David Webb. Brentford had suffered a slump in league form after losing the previous season's Division Two playoff final, and were struggling near the foot of the table. Despite Adams efforts, Brentford were relegated to Division Three on the last day of the season, and the club was bought out by Ron Noades who installed himself as the new Brentford manager.^[13]

After taking a break from the game, Adams joined up Nottingham Forest as assistant manager under Dave Bassett. Bassett was dismissed in January 1999 and so Adams took charge as caretaker-manager for a single Premiership, before Ron Atkinson was appointed as Bassett's replacement.^[12]

[edit] Brighton

Adams returned to management in April 1999 with Division Three team Brighton & Hove Albion. His first full season as manager was a matter of consolidation as the club finished a respectable 11th, while Adams signed talent such as star striker Bobby Zamora.^[12]

In his second season as manager, 2000–01, Adams guided Brighton to promotion as Division Three champions after the club had spent five seasons in the league's basement division. He set the foundations for Brighton to achieve a second successive promotion as Division Two champions in 2001–02.

[edit] Leicester

In October 2001, Adams left Brighton to become assistant manager to Dave Bassett at Leicester City.^[14][15] Peter Taylor, the former Leicester manager, was drafted in to complete Brighton's promotion campaign.

Adams, meanwhile, spent six months working under Bassett and during that time Leicester were almost permanently stuck to the bottom of the Premiership. In March 2002 he demanded the management position for next season, though he later apologized for his comments and insisted he was happy working under Bassett.^[12] The next month, just before relegation was confirmed, Adams was promoted to the manager's seat while Bassett became Director of Football.^[16]

Despite Leicester going into receivership with debts of £30million and being banned from the transfer market until a takeover was completed,^[13] Adams was able to guide them to promotion back to the Premiership at the first attempt - they ended the 2002–03 season as Division One runners-up behind champions Portsmouth.

Leicester slipped back down again in 2003–04 in 18th place, bracketed together with the two other relegated sides - Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers - whose goal difference was inferior to Leicester's. The campaign was not helped by an incident in March 2004 where nine of his players were arrested,^[17] though this number was later reduced to three players in Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie.^[18] Adams kept faith in his players innocence,^[19] his faith was later vindicated when it transpired that all allegations against the players were false.^[20]

Adams resigned as Leicester manager in October 2004 after a poor start to the Coca Cola League Championship campaign dashed the club's hopes of an instant return to the Premiership.^[21]

[edit] Coventry City

In January 2005, Adams made a return to management in the Coca Cola Championship with struggling Coventry City, a club he had been at during his playing career.^[22] Adams managed to save the club from relegation that year. He was expected by some to mount a challenge for promotion to the Premiership in 2005–06, which was the club's first season in the new Ricoh Arena. The team started out poorly, but improved in the second half of the season to rise up the table, with Adams making an inspired signing in Dennis Wise.^[13] However despite excellent home form, he could only guide Coventry as high as 8th, missing out on a play-off place by only two league places, though several points adrift of that year's standard.

Midway through the following season however, following a run of five games without defeat, Coventry suddenly and unexpectedly hit a bad run of form. A 5–0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion began a sequence of eight games without a win, including six defeats. This culminated in a 2–0 home defeat to Bristol City in the FA Cup, a game which also saw a record low attendance at the Ricoh Arena.

On 17 January 2007, the day after the cup exit, the club parted company with Adams, with Coventry lying 16th in the Championship.^[13] Adams stated that he intended to return to management as soon as possible.^[23] He admitted that the sale of Gary McSheffrey to Birmingham City had been a turning point in the club's season.

[edit] Colchester

In July 2007, Adams was appointed by Colchester United as assistant manager to Geraint Williams replacing Mick Harford who had left the previous month.^[24] He subsequently left this role in January 2008, stating that he wanted to return to management.^[25]

[edit] Return to Brighton

In May 2008, Adams returned to the helm at Brighton & Hove Albion,^[26] supplanting Dean Wilkins. On 21 February 2009, Adams left the club by "mutual consent", (although he had stated he wished to stay) due to poor team performances.^[27]

[edit] Port Vale

In May 2009, Adams was a late applicant for the vacant managers job at Port Vale after Dean Glover's departure from the club.^[28][29] On 4 June, it was announced that Adams was to be appointed the new manager at Vale Park.^[30] His appointment was welcomed by the Vale players^[31] and supporters.^[32] Chairman Bill Bratt stated that Adams' first goal must be to stabilize the club,^[33] a point reiterated by observers such as Robbie Earle,^[34] as well as Adams himself.^[35] This follows the Valiants fall from the second tier to near the bottom of the Football League within ten years.

He made his first signing on 15 June, bringing 21 year old Tommy Fraser to the club on a free transfer, who had played for Adams at Brighton.^[36] After confirming the signing of Adam Yates, who was linked to the club before Adams' arrival, Adams signed Doug Loft, who had also played under him at Brighton.^[37]

[edit] Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Fulham		1 August 1996	25 September 1997	63	30	16	17	47.61
Swansea City		9 October 1997	22 October 1997	3	0	0	3	00.00
Brentford		5 November 1997	1 July 1998	33	7	15	11	21.21
Nottingham Forest		5 January 1999	11 January 1999	1	0	0	1	00.00
Brighton & Hove Albion		12 April 1999	10 October 2001	125	57	34	34	45.60
Leicester City		7 April 2002	11 October 2004	111	41	38	32	36.93
Coventry City		23 January 2005	17 January 2007	99	33	26	40	33.33
Brighton & Hove Albion		8 May 2008	21 February 2009	40	9	16	15	22.50
Port Vale		5 June 2009	present	0	0	0	0	00.00

[edit] Honours

[edit] As a manager

[edit] Promotions

• 1996–97: Division 3 Runner Up (promotion to Division 2) - Fulham
• 2000–01: Division 3 Champion (promotion to Division 2) - Brighton & Hove Albion
• 2002–03: Division 1 Runner Up (promotion to The Premiership) - Leicester City

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Micky Adams career stats at Soccerbase
• Micky Adams management career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Port Vale F.C. – current squad 1 Anyon · 2 Stockley · 3 Taylor · 4 Griffith · 5 McCombe · 6 Prosser · 7 Loft · 8 Howland · 9 Richards · 10 Fraser · 11 Yates · 12 Martin · 14 Dodds · 15 Collins · 16 Owen · 17 Thompson · 18 Glover · 19 Richman · 20 Davidson · 21 Lawrie · 22 Edwards · 23 Chapman · 24 Lloyd-Weston · Manager: Adams

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Links to related articles v • d • e Fulham F.C. – Managers H. Bradshaw (1904–09) · Kelso (1909–24) · Ducat (1924–26) · J. 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Persondata
NAME	Adams, Michael Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Adams, Micky
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH	1961-11-8
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sheffield, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH