Tony Adams in Azerbaijan: It's not perfect, but it could be worse... we could be in Burnley

EXCLUSIVE

Reporting from Gabala, Azerbaijan

The first thing to strike Martin Keown when he arrived in Azerbaijan was a large bottle of duty-free malt whisky. It rolled straight out of the overhead locker and on to his head. Painful stuff - even for one of the game's hard men.

The second was confusion. What was his friend Tony Adams, the former Arsenal and England captain with whom he played more than 400 games, doing here and why had he felt it necessary to travel more than 2,500 miles to Gabala to manage a football club nobody has heard of? Had things really got that desperate?

It was the recurring question on a Wacky Races three-and-a-half-hour taxi ride from the capital, Baku. Adams could not really be in a more remote place if he tried. Gabala has a population of only 13,175, it's a lazy town with very little going on. But that is what appeals to Adams.

Calling the shots: Arsenal legend Tony Adams barks the orders at his Gabala FC side in Azerbaijan

'I like the fact the spotlight is off me,' says Adams, in good spirits after seeing his team go 11 matches unbeaten. They haven't conceded a goal in 10 games and club records are tumbling.

'I'm just known as a coach and that's part of why I'm here, too. Noone judged Jose Mourinho when he was a translator at Barcelona. So that is a good reason for being here. I am free to make mistakes here. The only pressure comes from me.'

His situation in Azerbaijan could not be more different from his frustrating stints at cash-strapped Portsmouth and Wycombe. Gabala FC have an incredibly wealthy backer - Tale Heydarov, the son of a government minister - and money is no object.



Friends reunited: Adams shows ex-Gunners team-mate Martin Keown around his club's new training ground complex

When Adams asked for state-of-the-art pitches, they brought in SIS, the company who put down Real Madrid's lush surface at the Bernabeu and solved the problems at Wembley; when the local players were not good enough, they splashed out on wages to bring in former Sheffield Wednesday striker Deon Burton, ex-Manchester United and Manchester City winger Terry Cooke and Aalborg defender Steve Olfers, a player with Champions League experience.

I'm in charge: Adams in his office, with a picture on the back wall of President Heydar Aliyev

The club's training ground is a mixture of the old, the new and the decrepit: the new 13,000-seat stadium and changing facilities are on the way, the first of the SIS pitches are already there and there is new gym equipment. But that equipment is in the big shed they use as their base at the moment, the pitch they play their home games on is synthetic and surrounded by a horrible cage and the assistant physio was a dentist a few months ago.

Adams said: 'In the first match at the national stadium there was dog mess all over the pitch. So I got the groundsman to move it and he just tossed it in the long jump sandpit. One time a cow walked across the training field and made a mess, too - right in the middle of the pitch. When we went to train on Tuesday there were massive spikes sticking out of the ground where they are going to put the new floodlights. Right next to the pitch. There's no concept of health and safety.'

But life is changing and Adams loves the fact he can oversee it all, even if he knows many people back home think he is crazy for being here and view him like they view Roy Keane - a great player but a poor manager.

'The pressure was different for me in England having captained my country. It's not something Aidy Boothroyd or someone at MK Dons would experience. They win a couple of games and everyone says "Wow". There is pressure on me, though, from being England and Arsenal captain. It's fine to be that person and then go to a great club, like Pep Guardiola with Barcelona, but I haven't had that. I'm sure people say I'm a rubbish manager, but not here.

'I am building a fantastic football team for Azerbaijan that will compete for the league and have a lovely stadium. You're not going to find an investor with the wealth or vision to do that in England. He's building a mini-Arsenal, it just happens to be in the middle of Azerbaijan. The downside is more for my family than for me. This is absolute heaven for me. What's the downside?'

Moving the goalposts: The groundsman at Gabala FC prepares for training

The downside, as Keown points out to him, is that he feels he has had to come all this way to get away from the pressure, that he is eight hours from his children and managing a club most people in Britain have never heard of.

There is also the fact that he and his No 2 Gary Stevens, the ex-Tottenham right back, are more or less the only people in the massive five-star hotel they live in. And there is little to do in Gabala. For most people, life consists of wandering the streets, dodging the army of Ladas and sipping tea. Many of the locals are in construction, helping transform the town, while you barely see a woman anywhere.

The lack of distractions means Adams can immerse himself in football. Afternoons and evenings are spent watching matches on his laptop with Stevens and on the Sunday we were with him - their day off - they went to three games.

Right-hand man: Former Spurs defender Gary Stevens is assisting Adams in Azerbaijan

Adams is developing an almost absurd knowledge of world football, putting in the hours to improve his chances of making things work. He is learning about himself and the manager he wants to be and, to listen to his players talk about him, it seems it is working. They have nothing but compliments for him.

That willingness to learn has seen him visit other coaches to see how they work. He saw Steve McClaren when he was at FC Twente and spent 10 days with Mourinho last season at Inter Milan.

'Mourinho said I was 15 years behind him. He had been out there watching (Louis) Van Gaal and Bobby Robson and I'd been playing football. There is a lot of catch-up to do. He said it's different for me because I was a player. I watched a game with him and the keeper collided with the centre half and the striker scored. "That's you, isn't it?" he asked. "That's David Seaman and you're turning round and screaming at him. But now it's half-time and you're a manager, so what are you going to do?"

Heading up: Adams, training with his players, is looking to build a legacy in Azerbaijan before moving on

'You have to assess each of their characters and deal with it. It takes time to learn and the great thing for me is that I can do all that learning and make all those decisions under the radar out here.

'Steve McClaren had 19 coaches rock up one Wednesday at FC Twente and they said, "It's your turn, Steve. We're all in this together, show us what you're doing". They go to games together. 'In England everyone is so closed.

When I did my Pro Licence, the attitude was, "This is my stuff, you're not taking this". Because everyone knows coaches are getting sacked. We need to repair the credibility of British coaches.

Up and down: Adams in the dugout during the game against Moik in Baku

'We had Ron Greenwood, Sir Bobby Robson, Don Howe, Dave Sexton but where are today's guys? Howard Wilkinson was the last English manager to win the League.

Roy Hodgson's gone around the world. It's taken 15 years to leave the Blackburn situation behind.

'It's been about learning about myself here. It's the first club where I've felt that they are my boys. I've made a connection with them, they've bought into it and I've been able to control the group. I'm being hard sometimes and I didn't do that at Wycombe.

'We were playing Inter Baku, we were 1-0 down at half-time and the central defender, who wasn't even playing because he was suspended, was in the back of the dressing room talking loudly. I went mad at him, screamed at him to get out the dressing room and they took notice. It was instinctive. You could sense the total respect from every player.

'At Wycombe I was indecisive. I used to think, "What would Arsene (Wenger) do, what would George (Graham) do, what would Terry Venables do?" and then at one point, and I'm not quite sure when, I started thinking about what Tony Adams would do.'

Perhaps surprisingly, considering he spent his whole career at Arsenal under brilliant managers, it is a Tottenham man who Adams thinks has had most influence on him. 'I use a lot of the psychology Harry Redknapp uses: a lot of stick and carrot. The players don't need to be told they are rubbish, they need to be told they are brilliant. It works.'

It clearly does. As well as the record-breaking unbeaten run which sees them sit fifth in the 12-team league despite not winning any of the first four games, Gabala are in the last eight of the cup and playing to their strengths.

Are you Delap in disguise? Big central defender Lubo's delivers a dangerous Stoke-esque throw-in

'We're like the Stoke of the Azerbaijan league,' laughs Adams, and he is right. Big central defender Lubo's Rory Delap-style long throws set up two of the three goals in the win over MOIK Baku last weekend.

With fair-play handshakes at the start and referees in FIFA tracksuits, you could have been fooled for thinking you were about to watch some decent football. Instead it was a horrible game on a horrible pitch: the centre circle was off centre, as was the penalty spot.

Burton grabbed two goals in the win, celebrating in front of the 25 fans who made the trip to the capital.

Barmy army: Gabala FC fans cheer on Adams and his men against MOIK

They go everywhere, bussed to the ground for free by the club and, armed with a drum and a conductor who has them practising songs on the long journeys to games, they make an absolute racket.

The plan from here is to win the league in the next three seasons and therefore qualify for the Champions League preliminary rounds. It would be an amazing achievement for a club who were amateur five years ago. Adding players in January - hopefully former Sheffield United striker Luton Shelton and ex-Portsmouth defender Brian Priske will join - would help.

'I said to them that if they put me on the same budget as the top 10, I'll win the league. If we're not up there near the European places next year then I'll be doing something wrong. It will depend on my recruitment because most coaches can put a team out and do OK. If you can get 75 per cent of the decisions right on who you bring to the club, then you are a good manager.

'I've got the power here, which is what you don't get in England. Over there the players have the power and CEOs and chairmen have destroyed coaching as a career with continual changes.

Talking tactics: Adams puts his instructions across to his players

'Here, I'm in a position of power and can do whatever I want. Not many in England can do that - (Sir Alex) Ferguson, Wenger, maybe (David) Moyes. Generally it is the lunatics running the asylum.'

Despite expecting to come away thinking the opposite, it seems there is not a lunatic running this asylum. There is a plan and Adams is working hard. He knows he is not going to take over the world with Gabala, but hopes he can learn how to be a good coach so he can one day manage at the top level. Adams is incredibly popular and respected by the club.

'I'm developing these skills so I can use them at the highest level. I would probably only take one job in England - Arsenal. I need to win things. What can you win at Stoke, say? I don't think I want to be manager of Wigan, no disrespect to Wigan. I'm not sure what I could win with them. It takes a certain type of man to do that. Ollie (Ian Holloway) is doing unbelievably at Blackpool but I don't want to be Blackpool manager.'

All smiles: Adams salutes the supporters as he toasts Gabala FC's 3-0 win over MOIK

Adams has been scarred by his time at Wycombe and Portsmouth and watching Keane struggle at Ipswich convinces him Azerbaijan was not the crazy decision some think it might be.

'I needed some experience as a No 1 (at Portsmouth) or I'd have ended up in the category as an assistant manager and become Steve Clarke for the rest of my life.

'After a month the owner told me there was no more investment and that we needed £6m by the end of January or we were going into administration. I didn't want to resign because you can't be a quitter in the UK, that's really held against you. I was pleading for the sack. Things changed. At the start I was going to buy Yaya Toure. I ended up with Hayden Mullins.

Cow Lane? No, it's Gabala's King's Road says Adams

'If anything Wycombe was worse. I had Boston United fans banging on the dugout screaming, "Adams, you're rubbish, go back to where you came from". At the big clubs, you get the bus in, you disappear underneath the stadium and you're on four times the salary.'

That is how you get back again to Gabala, to a place where there is no pressure, no-one watching - even if it means contact with his wife Poppy and five kids is on Skype until they move out in September.

The quiet life seems to make him happy, not a mean achievement for someone who has been through life's ups and downs.

'Poppy says to me I'm depressing when I am in work and depressing when I'm out of it,' he adds.

What's next: Adams discusses his plans for the future with Sportsmail's Alex Kay (C) and Martin Keown at the site of Gabala FC's new ground

Who knows if the new Adams will last or whether this chapter in his life will be deemed a masterstroke or a gamble that went wrong.

'It's not perfect but it could be worse, we could be in Burnley,' he jokes.

So where will he go from here?

'If you want me to write a plan - and God laughs at those who make them - it would be three years here in which I build the stadium, hopefully win the league; go to Feyenoord with a new owner who will invest about £20m and wants me to win the Dutch title for the first time since 2002. I spend five years or so there, we win the Europa League, we put them back on the map and then I go to Arsenal, go to England and then I drop down dead.'



