We both went on to make hundreds of appearances over the next couple of decades, enjoyed quite a few drinks during the success of the Graham era and then sobered up a bit for the arrival of Arsène.

He made his debut in 83-84, the same season I became a North Bank regular. In some ways my own support of Arsenal has followed a similar pattern to TA’s career. I’m sure if you read the programme for his testimonial this month it will contain a sanitised list of achievements, which, although impressive, don’t tell half the story of the man. Since then he’s sobered up and become both a better man and a better player.Īs anyone who’s read TA’s autobiography ‘Addicted’ will know, his story is so affected by alcohol that I can’t help but include it here. Eight years ago he was still an alcoholic in denial, a top sportsman pushing himself on the pitch and pushing himself even harder with week-long drunken benders whenever he thought he could get away with it. Nowadays, however, both Tony and I are a lot older and wiser, and we see things in much better perspective. If I’d been writing about the career of Tony Adams at the time of his first testimonial in 1994 the article would probably have been a lot closer to straight hero worship.

In celebration of the unveiling of TA’s statue outside Arsenal Stadium on 9 December 2011, here’s my tribute to him at the time of his retirement in 2002, printed in The Gooner issue 124.

Addicted text only tony adams