Adams and the angst
Micky Adams is not known for keeping his feelings to himself and his interview following the defeat to Bristol City was one that raised eyebrows among Vale fans.
Rob Fielding writes…
Far from defending his record, his signings and presenting his usual bullish personality, Adams adopted a markedly different approach commenting: “I want to apologise to our supporters, they’re having a tough time of it. I know a majority are not happy with Micky Adams and I can understand that. I think every manager has a shelf life at a club, maybe I’ve reached mine? But that’s probably for a discussion elsewhere at another time, instead of immediately after a defeat against the top of the table side.”
I think every manager has a shelf life at a club, maybe I’ve reached mine? But that’s probably for a discussion elsewhere at another time, instead of immediately after a defeat against the top of the table side…
As usual, the conspiracy theorists had a field day suggesting that Adams’ phrase “maybe I’ve reached mine” was the manager looking to leave and eyeing a potentially lucrative compensation pay-off as he did.
But is that really the case?
Over his tenure as Vale boss, Adams’ comments to the media have often been criticised by this website. We particularly didn’t like some ill thought-out comments about online Vale communities (you wouldn’t expect any different but we still felt our comments were justified and you can read them here).
We also didn’t like the somewhat passive-aggressive stance taken with BBC Radio Stoke and we mentioned that in this blog. BBC presenters said that Adams makes his comments with a smile and a wink but as radio doesn’t have live pictures, that makes very little difference to the listener and many fans we’ve spoken to have been irked by some of Adams’ remarks.
So, with all that in mind, what is to be made of these latest comments?
Cynical escape route or ill-thought-out (and emotional) post-match comments?
We’re inclined to think it’s the latter and Adams probably deserves the benefit of the doubt for a statement made in the heat of the moment.
However, while the pressure on, it may be wise for the manager to take his own advice.
When he’s asked to comment immediately after a game perhaps he should think “that’s probably for a discussion elsewhere at another time…”