Charlie Adam wants to see Ian Holloway back in management and reveals he doubted himself after Liverpool move

In the fourth part of an exclusive interview with Ladbrokes: Fanzone, former Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam chatted about what Ian Holloway means to him, his time at Blackpool and his move to Liverpool.

In part one he discusses Arsenal, in part two his thoughts on Liverpool and Rangers in part three.

I want Ian Holloway back in a dugout… he enjoys the media too much!

As soon as I talk about Blackpool, it brings back happy memories. It was a great period in terms of my career; it’s where I started my career in England and it’s a wonderful club. The supporters are so passionate, they’re always right behind their team and I love that about them. They now have an owner who is investing into the football club, but they’re having a tough time right now – there’s no two ways about it.

If you look at what they’re trying to do, they’re trying to rebuild things off the pitch – it’s something they’ve had to do because of the complete lack of structure from previous ownership. The new owners are trying to do that, while maintaining a competitive level on the pitch in order to keep the club in the Championship. I thought they did very well to stay up last season, this season is about dragging themselves out of the relegation zone and preparing for next year.

We know that when results aren’t going well, that’s when supporters become frustrated. It’s like that at any club, and those Blackpool fans have the right to an opinion. They pay their money, it’s their club, it’s their passion. It’s a great football club and they’re very special to me.

Ian Holloway is a great guy whose man management was very, very good. He had a style he wanted us to play to and he stuck to it. He knew exactly what he wanted from us when he came into the club. Unfortunately for him, he’s no longer in the game, which is a real shame because I think people like him should be given opportunities more than they are. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see him back in a dugout. I think he’s enjoying the media too much!

It’s always good to listen to him when he’s on TV, though. People always associate him with being a laugh and a joke, but when he’s talking about the game, and the excitement he brings, I think it’s clear for everyone to see he’s a top, top manager. He ranks right up there for me as one of the best managers I’ve worked under.

He sold me a dream when he came to Blackpool. He told me he’d get me in the Premier League one day… little did either of us know that we’d do so together! Then he sold me to Liverpool, so as far as me and my career are concerned, I’ve got a lot to thank Ian for. When someone like that makes a promise to you like he did, it’s hard not to have a complete belief in the guy. I still do to this day… I’d love to see him back in the game.

Leaving Blackpool for Liverpool… I doubted myself

It was a really difficult time for me when that interest from Liverpool came in. Obviously it’s a move which I want to go ahead, but I totally understand why Blackpool held firm for the right fee. It’s difficult when you’re in the middle of it, though, not just for me but for my family as well.

There’s an opportunity to go and play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, and for me personally, I had the chance to potentially go and play under Kenny Dalglish who is a legend both at Liverpool and in Scotland. The players I was going to be working with – Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Pepe Reina – these are top, top players who have been up there on the biggest stage at club and international level. To have that carrot dangled in front of me was amazing, and then to see it not quite materialise in that January… it was very, very difficult to accept. Luckily for me, Liverpool came back in the summer and we managed to get the deal done.

The lads in the dressing room were great when all of those Liverpool rumours were doing the rounds. They knew it was a life-changing move for me in terms of going from Blackpool to one of the best clubs in the world. They supported me throughout. There was no animosity at all, it never felt like it was me versus them, they were just buzzing for me.

For the first three or four weeks at Liverpool, I doubted myself – I was nervous. I was nervous when I went into training and I gave the ball away because I’d taken such a massive step up from Blackpool to Liverpool. I can just remember wondering what my team-mates thought about me. Do these players actually think I’m good enough?

But after a few weeks, you start to relax a little, you get more comfortable in your surroundings and I think I ended up playing close to 40 games for Liverpool in that season. I had a great time there, I loved it. We won the League Cup and just missed out on the FA Cup final, and while we didn’t perform well enough in the league, I still think back on my time with the club with positive memories, for sure.

Play-off memories: Honour to lead Blackpool in the Premier League

When I think back to that day at Wembley against Cardiff in the play-off final, first of all I can remember how hot it was – they were really tough conditions. We’d obviously played them a couple of times already in that season and managed to draw with them twice – we felt confident heading into the game. Even going down 1-0, we always knew we had enough quality within that team to bounce back, and we did that. Fortunately for me, I got the first equaliser in the game, but then we went down again, and by the time we got in at half-time, we’re 3-2 up.

Ian Holloway comes in at half-time. He’s calm and he tells us to just keep playing the way we are. He made a couple of little tweaks here and there, and while Cardiff might think they had a couple of good chances in the second half, so did we…

We thoroughly deserved to go up that year. We had a great run at the back end of the season. We scored lots of goals in the build-up to the play-offs and felt confident when we came up against Nottingham Forest and Cardiff.

That feeling when you win a game like that at Wembley, with your team-mates in the dressing room… you’re just buzzing. We had a few beers while we were at the stadium and eventually made our way back to the hotel. I was back in bed for about midnight, though! Just the whole euphoria, and emotion that comes with a moment like that… it’s tiring!

It wasn’t until the next day when we realised what we’d actually achieved. We made our way back up to Blackpool for the open-top bus parade, and there’s 250,000 people lining the streets of Blackpool… that’s when reality kicked in that we were actually going to be playing in the Premier League.

The Premier League was just a journey that nobody at Blackpool Football Club ever expected. They were great, great times. We had some great results, and some bad ones, but all in all, it was an absolute honour to lead Blackpool in the Premier League.