Gunnerblog

Is Tony Adams ready to return to Arsenal?

315 comments April 26th, 2012

I should preface this article by warning that it’s speculative.  I can’t claim to have any inside track on this matter. But here are the facts as we know them:

• After defying expectations by deciding to remain on for a further twelve months last year, Pat Rice is due to retire this summer.
• Arsene will therefore be looking to appoint a new assistant
• Tony Adams is more of a presence at Arsenal than he has been in years

That last point perhaps requires some expansion.  I’m not referring to the very public appearances Tony has made, both in bronze and in the flesh.  Instead, he’s been attending games, sitting in the executive areas, and crucially has been spotted at the London Colney training ground on several occasions.  A friend of mine has been up to Colney twice in recent months – on both visits they spotted Adams.  This, of course, could be coincidence.  Or it could indicate that an Arsenal legend is preparing to return to the fold.

It’s not unusual to find a former player at the training ground.  At various points this season, Colney has been graced by the likes of Robert Pires, Thierry Henry, and Jens Lehmann, who is currently undertaking his coaching badges.  Arsene’s door is always open to his former players, whether they simply need a place to keep fit, or want to pick his brains about a problem.  Adams’ appearance, however, is surprising.  He’s been somewhat resistant to the idea of returning to Arsenal in any capacity other than as manager.  It’s clear that for ‘Mr. Arsenal’, playing second fiddle to anyone – even Arsene Wenger – would be difficult.

So what’s changed?  Well, perhaps Adams has learnt some humility.  His early years as a manager were, frankly, disastrous.  Spells with Wycombe and Portsmouth did little to convince anyone that he had a future as a number 1.  He has now resigned from his role as manager of FC Gabala in Azerbaijan, instead taking up an ‘ambassadorial’ role.  Perhaps he has accepted the need to learn his trade from more a better, more experienced man.  And perhaps the backwaters of European football have instilled in him a desire to come home.

Is he the right man to take over from Rice?  Well that’s another question entirely.  Certainly, his managerial career to date has been far from convincing.  His record as an assistant, however, is far better – working under Harry Redknapp, he drilled an effective and mean Portsmouth defence.  Internal candidates like Steve Bould and Neil Banfield would doubtless feel they were able to do the same, and might provide less of a challenge to Arsene’s authority.

My thoughts about Adams are in part influenced by proceedings at Stamford Bridge where Roberto Di Matteo and Eddie Newton, a pairing unceremoniously sacked from lowly West Brom little over a year ago, have just led Chelsea to a Champions League Final.  Sometimes, it seems, there is a value in having an inherent understanding of the culture of the club.  Pat Rice, of course, has that in spades.

And so does Tony Adams.  He is Mr. Arsenal.  And that sums it all up.  I’d welcome him back with arms as open as those with which he celebrated that famous goal.