The story of Tony Adams: addiction, prison sentence and the people who saved him

From early in his football career, Adams struggled with an alcohol addiction which heavily affected his life. He was reportedly often involved in fights in nightclubs and was sentenced to four months in prison in 1990 for driving while four times over the legal drink-drive limit. ‘’I was in there because I was four times over the legal limit,’’ Adams told The Guardian. ‘’I went straight across an A road, doing 80mph, out of control for the length of a football pitch, and rightly so, ended up in prison because of that.’’

However, prison didn’t help him. At the time, friends and family also refused to condemn Adams’ behaviour. ‘’I got pats on the back. I was Arsenal captain and my manager [George Graham] said: ‘Oh, they’re making an example out of you. It’s 19 December. You’re the best advert out there for not drinking and driving this Christmas.’ It’s all bullshit, to be honest with you.’’ 

‘’I was talented and I kept getting away with it. My ego was going up and up and my self-esteem was coming down and down.’’ After prison, Adams kept on drinking for six years. ‘’I didn’t need prison; it didn’t touch the sides. I needed rehab. There was no 12-step programme in prison. There were no education programmes, no nothing. Chelmsford prison was a bucket in the corner.’’ 

‘’When I didn’t play football, I didn’t want to live’’

Before recovering completely, Adams revealed that just before seeking help he was in one of the darkest periods of his life. ‘’In 1996, I was 29 years of age and didn’t want to be on the planet, so it was a very dark period of my life. When I didn’t play football, I didn’t want to live. I couldn’t do life. I knew I was completely trapped and that’s the worst place I’ve ever been in. In February of that year, football was removed as I got injured. In March, my kids were removed. I didn’t drink around them but passed out one Sunday evening. I drank seven bottles of chablis.’’ His then-mother-in-law took his kids away. 

‘’My father-in-law then was Frank Shea. He used to drive for the Krays; Frances was his sister, who married Reggie Kray. So that was the kind of background for my first wife’s state. But Frank, all of a sudden, he’s 10 years without a drink or drugs, and he’s got his self-respect back, and he’s got his dignity back. All the things that I’d lost. So Barbara, my first mother-in-law, gave me James W’s number. She slipped it in my pocket. She saved my life.’’ 

Road to recovery

Adams described James W. as his ‘’hero, therapist, sponsor,’’ and ‘’mentor’’. He started Adams’ road to recovery in 1996 and later ran Adams’ charity, Sporting Chance, for twenty tears as the clinical director. The Sporting Chance Clinic helps sportspeople with drink, drug or gambling addications. 

The first time Adams met James W. in April 1996, he was drunk. ‘’Then we had the Euros, and I managed to stay clean and sober using football. But as soon as Gareth [Southgate] missed that penalty, the booze was in my hand again. a 44-day bender. At the end of my drinking, I’ve seen things come out of the cupboard. I was paranoid. I thought someone ws in the house. I thought I was killing people.’’ 

‘’When I came around 16 August 1996, James guided me and I went to Alcoholics Anonymous, went through the 12 steps with him and it changed me as a human being,’’ said Adams.  

Opening up about his past once again to The Guardian, after having previously detailed his battle with alcohol in his 1998 autobiography ‘Addicted’, the former Arsenal legend reveals that he’s got no angst of the past any more. ‘’I’ve cleaned that up – I’m 28 years without a drink or a drug. I’m comfortable in my own skin for the first time in my life. I’ve grown up. There are no tentacles from the past now.’’