Having replied thoughtfully to a question about the myriad addictions facing sportspeople today, Tony Adams lets out a sigh, and says: “Lee Dixon said to me a few years ago, ‘It’s never just a yes or no answer with you, is it Tone?’ ”

Dixon may have had a point. The absence of an easy answer, a simple solution, is a recurring theme with Adams. Can Paul Merson be saved? Do you ever crave a beer? Might you one day return to Arsenal? These are topics for Adams not to respond directly to, but to interrogate, analyse, and dissect – often with a lowering of the glasses and a furrow of the eyebrows.

Adams is a bundle of contradictions. He is the alpha male who quit the booze and discovered Shakespeare and spirituality; the inspirational leader with 66 England caps and 10 major honours who was so repressed that he would drink himself into oblivion; the rugged defender now so emotionally literate that he cried on Desert Island Discs while discussing the death of his mother.

Adams is aware of his uniqueness, and with Monday marking the beginning of alcohol awareness month, he reflects on his 23-year sobriety by saying: “You’re looking at a man who’s defied all the odds.”