No room for sentiment as Adams returns
38 comments December 28th, 2008
Today is the first time Tony Adams arrives at the Emirates Stadium as a manager. Sadly for Adams, it’s as manager of Portsmouth. Nevertheless, he harbours ambition to one day be sat in the home dugout:
“I’d love that job. Arsène is showing no signs of moving at the moment but it is my ambition to manage Arsenal Football Club.”
He’s a long way away from being ready to be Arsenal manager, but it’d be nice to think he might one day be able to be considered for the job. It’d be fantastic to be in a position like Manchester United, whereby we have several former players performing well as managers and staking a claim to succeed Arsene.
Adams still loves Arsenal dearly, and it’s easy to see why:
“Ken Friar still calls all the old captains every Christmas Day to wish them Happy Christmas. When Portsmouth got to the Cup final last season I had a voice message on my mobile. ‘Hello Tony, it’s Ken Friar. Just want to wish you all the best today. Go and win it, you know Arsenal boys always do’. When I got the job here, it was the same. ‘Congrats, you’ll be a huge success’. Lovely touches.”
That anecdote tells you plenty about not only the esteem in which Adams is still held, but just how classy a club this is. His take on our current predicament also makes interesting reading:
“Not really. They are in transition. They’ve got a lot of young players but not much experience. I remember when Sol and Ashley were about to go, I said to David Dein, ‘You need to hold on to these guys. Too many seem to be leaving at the same time’. I’d retired, Patrick went, Dennis left, Dicko and Bouldy went. There was a tremendous turnaround in the space of two years — usually it should take about six. There was nobody left to pass on the old standards in the way we used to and the way Manchester United have done.”
The problem with such a problem is that there is no way to fix it. Those players have gone now. You can’t buy heritage. Ask Chelsea.
Anyway, it’s Pompey today, and they’ll be without Glen Johnson – arguably their best player this season. With Sol Campbell seemingly on his last legs, their defence has looked very shakey of late, and the returning Emmanuel Adebayor will look to take advantage of that.
After three consecutive draws in the league (and no win in four games), victory is both expected and neccessary. Whatever Pompey’s defensive problems, they’re no worse than our own, and Crouch and Defoe can be a real handful. As with seemingly every game this season, it’s impossible to call.
Anyhow: win we must. Come On You Gunners.
