Tony Adams has vowed to recover from a “nightmare” spell as head coach of Granada and help the relegated LaLiga club bounce back next season.
Former England and Arsenal captain Adams was appointed to his interim role on April 10th and the team lost seven consecutive matches under his charge, finishing bottom of the Spanish top flight with just 20 points.
“It’s a nightmare, thank you for putting words in my mouth,” Adams said. “I think I’m going to get another heart attack!”
Adams, now 50, had major heart surgery in 2015 while working at Azerbaijani club Gabala.
“Working with this group of players isn’t easy,” he said. “But I’m thankful, I just want to say that personally, thankful that I’ve had the experience. I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed a lot of it, but I’m thankful that I’ve had the experience.
“It’s a tough league. There’s not much defending going on in this league, especially in our team. To see goals go in so easily, it breaks my heart. I wish I could have had the team in pre-season, to stop this.”
Adams is a vice-president of DDMC — a company owned by Granada president John Jiang — and had been working with the club since November 2016 before his surprising appointment to take charge of the first team.
Now the former Wycombe and Portsmouth boss will revert to his previous behind-the-scenes management position, looking to fortify the team for a promotion push.
"Hopefully all the negativity stops now and we can put that to bed, close the door on that chapter, that disaster... and learn from it," Adams said after Friday's 2-1 home defeat to Espanyol. "Learn from the mistakes and make sure we never repeat them again."
Adams, quoted on Granada’s website, blamed the players for the team’s relegation in a cutting assessment of their ability and the signings made by the club.
“I think nothing was going to work with this group of players,” Adams said. “I think we’ve tried every formation, just like Lucas (Alcaraz, his predecessor) did. We’ve had three coaches, and we’ve had the same results, so you have to look at the players.
“Formations and selections are just the symptom. The root cause is the recruitment. That’s where we’ve made the mistakes with the players in the first place.”
Adams said the club have “a fantastic journey” ahead, with sporting director Manolo Salvador appointed in April and a new head coach coming this summer.
He added: “This is a long project for us. We want to put it back into LaLiga and be proud of this club.
“My job, it’s like building a house, you have to start with the foundations. You’ve got to get the right players, that’s the foundations. Bring them into the club and get a good team.
“I’ve got every confidence in Manolo (Salvador), I think he’s very good. He’s going to put a good team together. He really is, I’m very confident of that. With the coach coming imminently, I think they’re going to work very well together.
“Then we need the players. We’re going to bring in a few this week. We’re going to do our best, try our very, very best, to come straight back in one year.”
