Arsenal icon carries unfortunate Wycombe Wanderers tag around with him - he won't want reminding | OneFootball

Tony Adams has the lowest win rate of any Wycombe Wanderers manager since the club was promoted to the EFL.

Wycombe Wanderers have only had nine permanent managers since the turn of the century, but the appointment of Arsenal legend Tony Adams was one fans were keen to erase from their memories quickly.

It's not uncommon to see successful players being given a shot in management, so when the England icon was appointed by the Adams Park outfit in November 2003, it looked to be his first foot on the ladder of his exciting managerial career.

After his retirement from the game in 2002, Adams studied sports science at Brunel University up until his appointment at Wycombe. Despite being a rookie manager, something about the appointment seemed very clever, as the ex-defender had been in the dressing room with many top coaches throughout his playing career, giving him vital knowledge to help form his managerial approach.

However, any hope that he could translate that knowledge and experience to his own team was quickly dashed. Adams was unable to turn around Wycombe's wretched start to the season, as they remained glued to the bottom of the Second Division (League One) table and were subsequently relegated.

After a less-than-ideal start to the following season in the division below, the Arsenal legend called time on his first managerial gig, citing personal reasons. He departed Buckinghamshire with just a 22% win rate, the lowest of any permanent Wycombe manager since their promotion to the EFL in the early 1990s.

21 years after he left the club, this rather unwanted tag still stands, as Adams is still statistically the worst-performing Wanderers boss in their EFL history in terms of wins.

Tony Adams was given baptism of fire at Wycombe Wanderers

The start of the 2003/04 campaign was disastrous for Wycombe. After an encouraging 2-0 victory over Stockport County on the opening day, Wanderers wouldn't taste victory in the league again until late October. This barren run of form saw manager Lawrie Sanchez sacked in September, with John Gorman taking interim charge.

With the club stapled to the bottom of the table, an ambitious appointment for Sanchez's successor was made in November, as Adams was given his first managerial gig in professional football. Despite the club's league position and his lack of experience, this seemed to be quite a smart move by Wycombe, as the rookie boss had been in plenty of world-class dressing rooms over his playing career, which he spoke of in his first interview.

One thing was certain - the new manager had time on his side to turn the club's fortunes around. However, Adams would be unable to save Wanderers from the drop that season. It took him over a month to register his first league win, and he only went on to win three more matches. The Chairboys finished comfortably bottom of the Second Division, with just six wins to their name all season.

Despite a horrible season on the pitch, Adams remained in post at Adams Park for the following campaign. This seemed to be a fair call, as the former England international had inherited a struggling side which plenty of other managers would've struggled to get a tune out of. All of this must've felt like a baptism of fire into football management for Adams.

Now in the newly-formed League Two, Adams had a chance to wipe the slate clean and aim to take Wycombe back to the third tier at the first time of asking. A strong start to the campaign saw Wycombe win five of their opening eight league matches, reaching the summit of the table after a 2-1 win over Southend United.

However, this would be as good as it got for Adams and the club, as they endured another poor run of form, not picking up a win in their next nine fixtures and slipping all the way from first to 17th. A 1-0 home defeat to Yeovil Town would be the final time Adams set foot in the dugout as Wycombe manager.

The story of his departure from Buckinghamshire is rather bizarre. Adams wasn't sacked, rather announcing his resignation from the role not long after the Yeovil defeat. News of the manager's resignation was leaked in the media, but Adams himself hadn't communicated his intentions to leave with Chairman, Ivor Beeks.

A statement from Wycombe at the time read: "As of 2pm today the club has not received a formal resignation from Tony Adams. It understands that the manager has spoken to the players and various media outlets."

Later that day, the club received and accepted the then-38-year-old's formal resignation. Beeks was left disappointed in the manner of the ordeal, stating: "It is most unfortunate that the resignation was disclosed during the day to members of the media before a formal meeting with myself."

Arsenal legend still retains unwanted tag today

When all was said and done, the three-time FA Cup winner took charge of 53 matches as Wycombe manager. He won 12, drew 21 and lost 20, leaving him with a lowly 22.64% win rate. This was the lowest win rate the club had seen since they gained promotion to the EFL in 1993, and still is to this day.

Whilst the club's ambitious project under Adams didn't take off as had been hoped, they were able to rebuild under Gorman and Paul Lambert in the following years. Whenever Wanderers supporters look back on Adams' stint as manager, it often revokes bad memories of struggles on the pitch in that disappointing 2003/04 season.

Sadly for the Arsenal legend, his managerial career never took off as it was expected to. A poor stint at Portsmouth was followed by time with Azerbaijani club FC Gabala, and he was last seen in the dugout in 2017, managing La Liga side Granada. As can sometimes be the case, the former player struggled to adapt to management.

Statistically speaking, Adams went down in the records as the worst performing manager in Wycombe's EFL history in terms of wins, following his 53 games in charge of the Chairboys. This tag still remains with him in 2025, as none of Wycombe's seven managers since the ex-defender have a lower win rate than Adams.