How Tony nearly nearly went for a Burton

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Michael Hart|Chief Football Correspondent

13 April 2012

Tony Adams had to study the methods of two top coaches to qualify for UEFA's 'A' licence. He chose as his mentors Fabio Capello and . . . Terry Burton. On Saturday, when the England coach takes his place among the great and good at the FA Cup Final, Burton will be sitting a few yards from Adams down at pitch level.

Adams, of course, is the assistant manager of Portsmouth and Burton is the assistant manager of Cardiff and both will be involved in the unfolding tactical battle of wits in the first FA Cup Final since 1991 to involve two clubs from outside the Big Four.

Adams and Burton share a long-standing friendship that took root in the marble halls of the old Highbury stadium when the former Arsenal captain was a 13-year-old, unknown beyond the confines of schoolboy football in Romford.

It's nearly 30 years since they first met and Adams concedes that he may never have joined Arsenal but for Burton's intervention on the evening he arrived for his first training session at Highbury.

"I was a youngster doing the rounds - the Hammers, Spurs, Leyton Orient and then Arsenal," recalled Adams. "Steve Rowley, who'd just started scouting for Arsenal, told me to go to Highbury for training one Monday evening.

"I turned up after school with my dad. He said that Steve Rowley had told us to turn up. But they said they'd no record of my name so we were about to go home when Terry Burton suddenly said: 'They've made the effort to come here. Why not let the boy have a game?' So they gave me some kit and I joined in the training."

Burton, who was Arsenal's youth-team coach at the time, recalled: "No one was expecting him and that's why he was turned away initially. But I'm glad we gave him the chance to play that night.

"He was a tall, leggy lad but when you saw him out on the pitch you knew he had a chance of making it in the game. We liked the look of him. He played a few games for us and the rest, of course, is history."

Adams made nearly 700 appearances in 18 years at Arsenal, winning four Championship titles, three FA Cups, two League Cups and the European Cup Winners' Cup. The central pillar of the fabled Arsenal back four, he also played 66 games for England, many as captain.

Under Arsene Wenger, he found a new lease of life, conquered injury and problems in his personal life, rose to legendary status and discovered an enthusiasm for coaching that has helped Harry Redknapp take Portsmouth to eighth in the Premier League and their first FA Cup Final since 1939.

Islington-born Burton, 55, has been similarly influential under David Jones at Cardiff. He, too, was an Arsenal player but after scoring, against Cardiff, in their victorious FA Youth Cup Final team of 1971 - the year of the Double - he was released by the club, played non-League football and pursued a career in coaching.

"When I was 21 Bertie Mee invited me back to take the schoolboy training in the evenings at Arsenal and three years later, when Terry Neill was manager, I was given the job of youth-team coach," he recalled. "I had a fabulous time on the coaching staff at Arsenal and learned almost all I know from Don Howe but after a year as reserve team manager under George Graham we fell out.

"I thought I was the cat's whiskers and George thought that he was, too. When I came back from the summer break in 1987 he said that one of us would have to go - and it wasn't going to be him!"

The following year Wimbledon beat Liverpool in an historic FA Cup Final, after which Burton began a 14-year association with the South London club that concluded with two years in the managerial hot seat.

He then had two seasons at Watford with Ray Lewington before Sam Hammam, the former Wimbledon owner, lured him to Cardiff as assistant to Lennie Lawrence.

Unlike Adams, Burton has had no FA Cup Final experience. "I've had two semi-finals," he said. "I lost to Chelsea with Wimbledon and lost to Southampton with Watford. So maybe it'll be third time lucky for me.

"But I'm a realist. Portsmouth are favourites. You don't get to where they are in the Premier League without being a good team. But who knows - if they have an off day and we play to our full potential we could win."

Adams struck a note of caution, saying: "We had a good win against Manchester United but we also played four Championship teams on the way to the Final and they all made life quite difficult for us.

"West Brom played us off the park at times in the semi-final. So we certainly won't be under-estimating Cardiff.

"But I'm confident. I'm lucky to be working with a talented manager like Harry Redknapp and I think I've got more out of the experience than he has. It's been a really invaluable part of my education as a coach.

"I've had quite a wide range of experience now . . . Wycombe as manager, first-team coach at Utrecht, academy coach at Feyenoord and now Harry and Portsmouth. What next? I really don't know.

"But I'm grateful to all those who've helped me. Terry Burton, for instance, has been really influential in my coaching career. Fabio Capello was great at Juventus when I was doing my 'A' licence but these days I tell Terry that he was even better!"

How Tony nearly nearly went for a Burton

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