Micky Adams - Playing Career

Playing Career

Adams was born in Sheffield, and was an associate schoolboy with Sheffield United from the age of twelve, where his boyhood idol was Tony Currie. He was a favourite of manager Jimmy Sirrel, though Adams was released from the youth set-up a few months after Harry Haslam replaced Sirrel as manager in September 1977. United's youth team coach John Shaw also left the club and became a coach at Gillingham, and so Adams then travelled 240 miles out from home to join Gillingham as an apprentice in August 1978. During his time as an apprentice he won four caps for the England youth team, and competed in a tournament in Yugoslavia. He went on to sign as a professional at Gillingham in November 1979. Due to his natural pace, Adams started his playing career as a left-winger before being converted into a left-back after he was found to lack the technical skill necessary to beat opponents. Coming through the club's ranks at the same time as Steve Bruce, Adams later cited Buster Collins as a major influence upon his career. In 1982–83 he was named in the PFA's Third Division Team of the Year.

After 103 appearances for Third Division Gillingham he moved on to top-flight Coventry City in 1983 for a fee approaching £85,000. He struggled with injury during his time at Highfield Road, and was never popular with the fans. Keith Houchen also recalled that he did not get along with manager John Sillett and was prone to sulking when left out of the team. Despite this he managed to play over 100 games for City over a four year period before Leeds United manager Billy Bremner took him to the Second Division for a £110,000 fee. Near the end of his first season at Leeds he played in the club's FA Cup Semi-final defeat to former club Coventry at Hillsborough, as Coventry won 3–2 in extra time. Leeds suffered further heartbreak in 1987 by losing the play-off Final to Charlton Athletic, again after extra time. His return to First Division football instead came in March 1989 when Southampton offered Leeds £250,000 for his services. Adams made his debut for the "Saints" on 25 March 1989, taking Derek Statham's place at left-back in a 3–1 defeat by Arsenal. Adams retained his place for the next seven games, before losing out to Gerry Forrest for the last few matches of the season. 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 Oleksiy Cherednyk and they played out the remainder of the season together.

Adams began to establish himself as the first-choice left-back at the start of the 1990–91 season, partnered first by Cherednyk and then Dodd, and finally by Barry Horne on the right. 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. His first goals for the Saints came in the 1991–92 season against Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. Against West Ham on 14 April 1992, he scored the only goal with a far-post volley in the 88th minute after Matthew 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".

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. He wrote himself into the history books, for all the wrong reasons, when he was sent off for dissent on 19 August 1992 against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, during the second game of the season. His was the first ever red card in the Premiership. 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. He featured in 19 out of 42 league games that season as Southampton finished 18th and narrowly avoided relegation. 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. Adams never played under Ball and was loaned out to Stoke City in March 1994 until the end of the season. He scored three goals in ten games for the "Potters", but did not join the club on a permanent basis as the management staff refused to allow him to help out as a coach at the club's academy. In his five years with Southampton, Adams made a total of 174 first-team appearances, scoring seven goals.

In July 1994, he joined Fulham on a free transfer where he was reunited with Ian Branfoot in preparation for the "Cottagers" 1994–95 season. Fulham had just been relegated to Division Three (the bottom tier of the professional league) for the first time in their history. He signed with the club on the understanding that Branfoot would teach him the ropes of coaching. They finished seventh in the league that season, but due to a restructuring of the league which saw one less promotion place in the three lower divisions, Fulham missed out on a play-off place. When Branfoot became general manager in March 1996, Adams was appointed player-manager of a Fulham side on course for their lowest ever finish – 17th in Division Three.