Tony Adams

Before Arsenal

There was no before Arsenal. A local boy, Adams joined the club as a schoolboy and made his first-team debut in 1983 as a teenager. He was handed the captaincy by George Graham at just 21 and never let go — becoming the youngest skipper in the club's modern history and the figure around whom every side was built for the next two decades.

The Arsenal years

Adams captained League title sides in two distinct eras: the resolute Graham teams that won the championship in 1990/91, and the free-flowing Wenger sides that took the Double in 1997/98 and 2001/02. He overcame well-documented personal battles to reinvent himself under Wenger. The defining image is his goal against Everton in 1998 — surging onto Steve Bould's pass to seal the title — captured forever by the commentary line about a man who would have thought it.

How he played

A born leader and organiser of the famous back four, Adams marshalled the offside line and read danger before it formed. Commanding in the air and ferocious in the tackle, he led by deed as much as word — the captain every defence wished it had.

Timeline

• 1983First-team debut as a teenager
• 1991Captains the title win under Graham
• 1998Double, and the goal vs Everton
• 2002Final Double under Wenger
• 2002Retires a one-club man

Connected pages

• 1990/91 Champions
• 1990/91
• The 1998 Double
• 1997/98
• The 2002 Double
• 2001/02