On the occasions that I met him I just got the impression that football is his world, he’s totally obsessed and has a crazy work ethic, which is brilliant, but perhaps a little unhealthy at the same time.
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Derek Adams
- Thread starter Green as Grass
- Start date
On the occasions that I met him I just got the impression that football is his world, he’s totally obsessed and has a crazy work ethic, which is brilliant, but perhaps a little unhealthy at the same time.
At Argyle he seemed to bite off more than he could chew in the last year. What was his title 'Head of Football' or something? It made sense from one angle but came at a time when the trend, which has only accelerated, was away from the manager having oversight of every last detail across the club and towards fully focussing on the first team. His recruitment the summer before our relegation season was also pretty awful especially in defence. He always seemed to very much have his way of operating which was fine when it was working but lacked something, either the variation or empathy to change things when they weren't working.
... after blowing promotion the previous season when we were 10 points clear of 4th place in January.
Then after orchestrating a brilliant Semi-final win over Portsmouth, he presided over a team that only had one shot on goal in 90 minutes in the Final and that was a 30-yard free kick from Carey.
When he did eventually get us promoted, it was the least enjoyable promotion season ever. The final day at Grimsby with everything to play for was a "typical" Adams performance and symbolic of his tenure at Argyle; a lot of promise but ultimately, failure and bitter disappointment.
Adams has got a good work ethic and is very focused, but there's also something missing from his personality and man-management skills.
When he arrived in 2016 and we got off to a very good start, I started to think that Adams might be the man to lead us back to the Championship, but it was all to end in acrimony and tears.
I hope to see him parachuted in to Stoke City for the last month of this season to "do a Warnock" and keep them up, but then get them relegated in 2025.
"he presided over a team that only had one shot on goal in 90 minutes in the Final and that was a 30-yard free kick from Carey." Better than the Bolton game at Wembley then.😁
Depends on the player. I don't think Graham Carey would have stayed at Argyle for 4 seasons if it wasn't for Derek who was able to get the best out of him.
I agree with DemportDave 100% - Adams tenure is very overrated in my eyes. But it is remarkable how many players have followed him around which makes me think maybe his man management wasn't as bad as it appeared.
Yep. I’ve got a lot of time for Derek Adams. He’d never be able to work in our current set up as he likes to be in total control. But he genuinely cared about our club.
What happened to the poster who claimed to be friendly with him? Suggested they used to meet for coffee/meals etc.
Quite often went to Morecambe games when DA was there and wanted him back at Argyle constantly.
Quite often went to Morecambe games when DA was there and wanted him back at Argyle constantly.
This for me is why I don’t blame managers for jumping ship whilst they’re performing well. After finishing 7th in league one he’d have probably have been better trying to leave for a Championship club. He stayed, things went poorly, undid all of his hard work and his next job was Morecambe.
Overall I really enjoyed the period with him in charge.
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Overall he did a good job coming in after Sheridan.
How we've moved on though!!
How we've moved on though!!
Can we claim the worst back-to-back Wembley displays in History? I find it hard to believe anyone could out-do us? .... and to cap it all we were actually clear favourites to win both - it wasn't like we'd fluked our way there and come up against clearly superior teams.
The game against Wimbledon was an abomination against football and should have been stopped by the ref after about an hour and both teams disqualified ... it was THAT bad. Then came the Bolton game
.. F*** me!!
Our chums down the road may have something to say about that. 3 Play off final losses in 4 years including being tonked 4-0. 🤭Can we claim the worst back-to-back Wembley displays in History? I find it hard to believe anyone could out-do us? .... and to cap it all we were actually clear favourites to win both - it wasn't like we'd fluked our way there and come up against clearly superior teams.
The game against Wimbledon was an abomination against football and should have been stopped by the ref after about an hour and both teams disqualified ... it was THAT bad. Then came the Bolton game
Wembley....we didn't play well when we beat Darlington. That game was an affront. Wimbledon the same - The Bolton one looked like we'd got a supporters 11 from the car park. Gaps everywhere. Passes going into row Z, no sprints back, no nothing. Considering what we did last season it's a very odd performance. But we did it at Grimsby as well.
I had a chat with him outside York City, after a 1-0 win (I think).He was waiting for a lift, maybe heading home to Scotland for the weekend. He was very friendly, polite and very intense. I wish him well but there is more to life than football (sorry Mr Shankly) and health, family etc come first.