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Neil Adams (footballer)

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Neil Adams
Personal information
Full name Neil James Adams[1]
Date of birth (1965-11-23) 23 November 1965 (age 58)[1]
Place of birth Stoke-on-Trent, England[1]
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Norwich City (technical director)
Youth career
1983–1985 Stoke City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1985–1986 Stoke City 32 (4)
1986–1989 Everton 20 (0)
1989 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 9 (0)
1989–1994 Oldham Athletic 129 (23)
1994–1999 Norwich City 182 (25)
1999–2001 Oldham Athletic 47 (4)
Total 419 (56)
International career
1986 England U21 1 (0)
Managerial career
2014–2015 Norwich City
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Neil James Adams (born 23 November 1965) is an English former professional footballer and former manager who is the current technical director of EFL Championship club Norwich City.

He played as a midfielder for Stoke City, Everton, Oldham Athletic and Norwich City.[1] Adams began his career playing for his local club Stoke City, where he quickly earned a reputation of being a tricky and productive winger. This prompted Everton to pay a fee of £150,000 for his signature in June 1986. He was part of the Everton's Championship-winning squad in 1987, but injuries prevented him from reaching his potential at Goodison Park and after three years he moved on to Oldham Athletic. At Oldham, Adams played a major role in helping the club gain promotion to the newly formed Premier League in 1992 and also helped the Latics to reach the 1990 League Cup Final. He signed for Norwich City in February 1994 for a fee of £250,000. He became a regular in the Norwich for the next six seasons before ending his playing career with another two years at Oldham. After retiring from playing, Adams became a pundit for BBC Radio Norfolk, before taking up a coaching role at the Norwich City Academy – guiding the U-18 team to victory in the 2012–13 FA Youth Cup. In April 2014 Adams was appointed first-team manager following the departure of Chris Hughton.

Playing career

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Adams was born in Stoke-on-Trent and began his career with local side Stoke City making his professional debut against Coventry City in the Full Members Cup in 1985–86.[1] He made a huge impression with his performances for Stoke in his debut season, with his attacking creativity and deadly accurate crossing ability earning him a call up to the England U21 side for their European Championship semi-final tie in Italy.[1] With Stoke's finances poor and many top-flight sides showing an interest in signing him, he was sold to Everton in June 1986 for a fee of £150,000 after the Toffees beat off competition from Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, much to the annoyance to the Stoke supporters who feared that their club was becoming a 'selling club'.[1]

In his first season at Everton he helped the side win the First Division title in 1986–87. During his three years on Merseyside he also won two Charity Shield medals and earned his first England U-21 cap in an away game against Sweden. In June 1989 he rejected the offer of a new contract at Goodison Park and joined Oldham Athletic in a £100,000 deal. The five seasons that Adams spent at Boundary Park was to coincide with the club's golden period. In 1990, he played for the Latics in the League Cup Final against Nottingham Forest, and the following season he helped the team win the Second Division title as Oldham won promotion to the newly formed Premier League.

Adams' contribution from the right flank helped Oldham establish themselves against the best sides in the country, and he was influential in helping the Latics maintain their top-flight status during their 1992–93 campaign by scoring 9 goals – including crucial strikes against Liverpool, Everton, Chelsea and most memorably the only goal in a 1–0 defeat of soon-to-be-crowned double winners, Manchester United.

Whilst at Oldham he also picked up a Carling No. 1 Award – selected by a Premiership committee before the start of the 1993–94 season. In early 1994 Norwich City made inquiries about acquiring his services, and after protracted negotiations between the two clubs he eventually signed for the Canaries for a fee of £250,000 in mid-February. Adams was to become a regular in the Norwich side during his time at Carrow Road. He assumed the role of penalty taker and dead ball specialist for the Canaries, and in his career he only missed from the spot once, in a league cup game against Swansea.

He started in all but one of Norwich's games during the 1996–97 campaign, and completed that season as the Canaries' second top-scorer with a total of 16 goals. In 2002, Norwich fans voted Adams into the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame. After leaving Norfolk in the summer of 1999, Adams returned to former club Oldham for two seasons before a cruciate knee injury forced him to retire.

Managerial career

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A holder of the UEFA Pro-Licence, he returned to Norwich where was appointed as manager of the club's U-18s. Adams guided the side to victory over Chelsea in the 2012–13 FA Youth Cup.[3] On 6 April 2014 he was appointed Norwich City first-team caretaker manager following the departure of Chris Hughton.[4] On 22 May 2014 he was appointed permanent manager of Norwich City, signing a three-year contract.[5] Adams resigned from his position on 5 January 2015.[6] On 31 July 2015, Adams returned to Norwich City as Loan Player Manager, [7] a role he fulfilled until September 2021 when he was promoted to Assistant Sporting Director.[8]

Career statistics

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Source:[9]

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Stoke City 1985–86 Second Division 32 4 1 0 3 0 3 0 39 4
Everton 1986–87 First Division 12 0 0 0 3 0 5 0 20 0
1987–88 First Division 8 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 10 1
1988–89 First Division 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
Total 20 0 0 0 5 1 6 0 31 1
Oldham Athletic 1988–89 Second Division 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0
1989–90 Second Division 27 4 6 0 6 0 1 0 40 4
1990–91 Second Division 31 6 2 1 1 0 0 0 34 7
1991–92 First Division 26 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 29 5
1992–93 Premier League 32 9 1 0 4 0 0 0 37 5
1993–94 Premier League 13 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 17 0
Total 138 23 12 2 15 0 1 0 166 25
Norwich City 1993–94 Premier League 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 14 0
1994–95 Premier League 33 3 3 0 6 1 0 0 42 3
1995–96 First Division 42 3 1 0 5 0 0 0 48 3
1996–97 First Division 45 13 2 1 2 2 0 0 49 16
1997–98 First Division 30 4 0 0 2 1 0 0 32 5
1998–99 First Division 18 3 1 0 2 0 0 0 21 3
Total 182 25 7 1 17 4 0 0 206 30
Oldham Athletic 1999–2000 Second Division 29 2 2 1 2 0 1 0 34 4
2000–01 Second Division 18 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 20 2
Total 47 4 2 1 4 0 1 0 54 6
Career Total 419 56 22 4 44 5 11 0 496 65
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the FA Charity Shield, Full Members Cup, Football League Trophy and Screen Sport Super Cup.

Managerial statistics

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As of 5 January 2015
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
P W D L Win %
Norwich City 6 April 2014 5 January 2015 32 11 8 13 034.4 [10]
Total 32 11 8 13 034.4 —

References

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General

  • Davage, Mike; John Eastwood; Kevan Platt (2001). Canary Citizens: The Official History of Norwich City F.C. Jarrold. ISBN 0-7117-2020-7.

Specific

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ^ "FA Youth Cup final: Norwich beat Chelsea 4–2 on aggregate". BBC Sport. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
  4. ^ "ADAMS REPLACES HUGHTON AS BOSS". Norwich City F.C. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  5. ^ "Neil Adams: Norwich City hand caretaker boss permanent job". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Neil Adams resigns as Norwich City manager". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  7. ^ "NEIL ADAMS RETURNS TO NORWICH CITY – News – Norwich City".
  8. ^ "Club issues update on football and recruitment structure".
  9. ^ Neil Adams at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  10. ^ "Managers: Neil Adams". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
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