Charlie Adam

Charlie Adam

Charles Graham "Charlie" Adam (born 10 December 1985) is a Scottish international association footballer who plays for Liverpool. He plays primarily as a central midfielder.

Before having a youth career at Rangers, Adam was part of the Dundee youth set up between 1999–2003.[2] A product of the Rangers youth system, Adam spent much of his early senior career on loan to other clubs. While on loan to St. Mirren during season 2005–06, Adam was part of the team that won both the Scottish Challenge Cup and First Division, playing in over thirty matches for the Saints. Upon returning to Rangers at the end of the 2006 season, he became a regular under managers Paul Le Guen and Walter Smith. Adam was also part of the Rangers team that reached the 2008 UEFA Cup Final.

After falling out of favour at Rangers during season 2008–09, Adam was loaned out to English Championship side Blackpool. The loan was made permanent at the start of the 2009–10 season, and Adam became an integral part of the Blackpool side, captaining the team to a play off victory over Cardiff City which resulted in their promotion to the Premier League. Adam shone in his first season in the English Premier League, his performances being recognised with a nomination for the PFA Players' Player of the Year in April 2011.

He has played at B and full international levels for Scotland.

Club career

Rangers

Early career at Rangers

Dundee-born Adam joined Rangers on 23 January 2003.[3] He made his debut appearance on 14 April 2004 against Livingston[4] and played sporadically thereafter but did not become a first-team regular until the management of Paul Le Guen.

He made an appearance at the start of the 2004–05 season,[5] and then joined First Division club Ross County on loan for the rest of that campaign.[5] Whilst in Dingwall, Adam made fifteen appearances, scoring twice, against Raith Rovers and St. Mirren.[6] He also played in the 2004 Scottish Challenge Cup Final against Falkirk, which County lost 2–1.[7]

Loan to St Mirren

Adam then joined First Division side St. Mirren on loan for the 2005/06 season.[5] During his spell in Paisley, he again appeared in the 2005 Scottish Challenge Cup Final, however this time he was on the winning side as St. Mirren defeated Hamilton Academical 2–1.[8] He was also part of the team that won the First Division title in May 2006.[5] In total he made thirty-seven appearances and scored nine goals for the Buddies.

Rangers first team

After playing for Rangers during a July 2006 pre-season trip to South Africa, including scoring a hat-trick against a Jomo Select side,[9] Adam began the 2006–07 season with the club, and he started in their first league match against Motherwell.[10] He continued to be a regular for Rangers as the season progressed, and scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 UEFA Cup win over Livorno Calcio on 19 October.[11] This was one of fourteen goals Adam scored that season, including strikes against Israeli sides Hapoel Tel Aviv[12] and Maccabi Haifa,[13] as well as a goal in an end-of-season Old Firm match from a free-kick.[14] On 16 April 2007, at the end of his first season in the first team, Adam was voted by Rangers fans as the club's Young Player of the Year at an award ceremony.[15]

On 28 June 2007, it was announced that Adam had signed a new five-year contract with Rangers.[16] He scored his first UEFA Champions League goal on 19 September against VfB Stuttgart, and his second in the return fixture.[17]

Loan to Blackpool

On 2 February 2009, Adam signed on loan with English Championship club Blackpool until the end of the 2008–09 season.[5] Five days later, he was sent off on his debut for the Seasiders during a 3–2 defeat by Doncaster Rovers at Bloomfield Road.[18]

On 25 February, after serving a three-match suspension, Adam scored twice, including a goal from just inside the halfway line, for the club's reserve team as they beat Accrington Stanley 4–2.[19][20] Adam scored his first Football League goal for Tony Parkes's men in a 2–0 victory over Norwich City at Bloomfield Road on 7 March.[21] Two days later he was named in the Football League's "Championship Team of the Week".[22] His second goal for Blackpool came on 11 April in their 1–0 West Lancashire derby win over Preston North End at Deepdale. Blackpool's then-caretaker manager Tony Parkes publicly admitted he was keen to sign Adam permanently. He said, "I have spoken to our club secretary and we will be in touch with Rangers to see if we can do a deal for Charlie".[23] At the end of the season, after two goals in 13 appearances, he returned to Rangers.

On 6 July 2009, Rangers confirmed that they had accepted a bid of £500,000 from Blackpool and that he was set to sign for the Seasiders the following day, subject to personal terms being agreed.[24] The following day, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway confirmed a deal had been agreed with the Ibrox club, but stressed that talks with Adam would take place on 9 July, once Adam had spoken with Rangers manager Walter Smith.[25] Four weeks later on 2 August, with Adam still a Rangers player and having been on their pre-season trip to Germany, Smith confirmed that the player was in talks with Blackpool, saying, "Adam is talking to Blackpool at the moment. The clubs have agreed a fee and it will be up to Charlie and his representative."[26] The following day, the Daily Mail reported that Adam had signed for Blackpool on a three-year contract with an option for a further 12 months.[27]

Blackpool

2009–10 season

Charlie Adam playing for Blackpool in the 2010 Football League Championship play-off Final

On 4 August 2009, Adam signed a two-year contract with Blackpool with the option of a further year, in a club-record transfer fee of £500,000.[28] Blackpool manager Ian Holloway stated: "I'm absolutely delighted to have signed Charlie. He played a massive part in keeping the club in the division, and I know exactly what he can bring to this club."[29] Hours after signing, Adam played in the Seasiders' 2–1 pre-season friendly win over Everton at Bloomfield Road.[30]

On 8 August he played in his first league game as a permanent Blackpool player as they started the 2009–10 season with a 1–1 draw with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road.[31] His first goal came on 26 August in a 4–1 home win over Wigan Athletic in the League Cup.[32]

"I'm proud that Blackpool paid out the sort of money that they did for me because they've never done it before. I want to repay them for that —and goals like the one against Forest can help me do it."

—Adam on his record signing for Blackpool, after scoring the winning goal against Nottingham Forest on 19 September 2009, his fourth goal in five games.[33]

On 25 January 2010 he was named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week", along with team-mate Neal Eardley following his performance two days before in the 3–2 home victory over Watford. Adam had opened the scoring, with his 12th goal of the season, and was pivotal in the win.[34][35] Blackpool's assistant manager Steve Thompson revealed that Adam, who had been linked with moves to a number of Premier League clubs, had been set a goal target of double figures for the season. And with that now having already been achieved, a new target was set, saying "Charlie is in a rich vein of form at the moment and that is great news for us. We set him a target of double figures and we were hoping he'd perhaps get to that in the latter stages of the season. But now he's already there by January we're hoping he'll get to the latter stages of double figures and get 18 or 19 goals."[36]

Adam won the Championship Player of the Month award[37] and was voted the PFA Championship Fans’ Player of the Month for January 2010. The PFA stated that "the 11-league goal man has been in sensational form for promotion-chasing Pool all season".[38]

On 27 March, Adam scored in his 50th league appearance for Blackpool, a 2–0 win at Plymouth Argyle. Just under a month later, Adam was named in the PFA "Championship Team of the Year".[39]

On 8 May, Adam's second-half penalty proved to be the match-winner as Blackpool beat Nottingham Forest 2–1 at Bloomfield Road in the Championship play-offs semi-final first leg.[40]

Adam scored a free-kick in the play-off final against Cardiff City on 22 May at Wembley Stadium. Blackpool went on to win the game 3–2 and gain promotion to the Premier League.[41] Adam avoided picking up his fifteenth booking in either of the semi-final ties that would have seen him incur a three-match ban and, thus, miss the final.[42] If he had been sent off in the first semi-final, however, he would only have missed the second leg.

2010–11 season

Adam during Blackpool's 2010–11 Premier League campaign.

In week four of the 2010–11 Premier League season, Adam was named in the official Team of the Week, partnering Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas in central midfield.[43] He was named again in week seven, alongside teammate Luke Varney.[44]

On 1 November, Adam overcame a fear of needles to play in Blackpool's 2–1 victory over West Bromwich Albion.[45]

In early December, a tribunal ruled in favour of Adam in a dispute over unpaid bonuses from the previous season. They found that Blackpool were required to pay the player £25,000 for successfully avoiding relegation to League 1. The club had argued that the promotion bonus (which had been stipulated in Adam's contract) superseded the 'survival bonus.' The panel upheld Adam's complaint, but did not agree with his second argument that the failure to pay the amount constituted a breach of contract on the club's part. As a result, both parties were responsible for their own legal fees - leaving Adam with a very small net gain from the venture.[46]

On 22 January, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway confirmed that the club had received a bid of £4.5m from Premier League club Liverpool. Holloway described the bid as "disgraceful" and it was rejected.[47] Blackpool then rejected a transfer request that Adam had made to the club.[48]

On 2 February, Adam scored in a match against West Ham United directly from a corner kick.[49] Adam scored a brace on 19 March 2011 against Blackburn Rovers, a penalty in the 25th minute and a free kick in the 29th.[50] He was one of seven nominees for the 2010–11 PFA Players' Player of the Year.[51] Adam won goal of the month for March 2011 on the BBC show Match of the Day. On 25 May 2011, Blackpool activated an option to increase Adam's contract by a further twelve months.[52]

Liverpool

On 6 July 2011, it was announced that Blackpool had accepted a deal with Liverpool over Adam, in a deal thought to be around £7.5 million.[53] On 7 July 2011, Charlie Adam officially completed the transfer to Liverpool. [54]