Having sacked manager Neil Critchley after their poor start to the season last week, Blackpool have reportedly turned to a former fan’s favourite to replace him in the managerial hot seat.
Fleetwood Town boss Charlie Adam has been discussed as a possible replacement and make the nine mile move from Fleetwood to Blackpool. Adam played for The Tangerines under Ian Holloway and was a part of the squad that reached the Premier League over ten years ago.
From loans manager to first team manager – Adam’s career to date
The Fleetwood head coach was born in Dundee and had a successful playing career having played in the Premier League and international football for his native Scotland.
During his playing career, the 38 year old appeared for numerous clubs including Stoke City, Blackpool, Rangers and Liverpool. His spell with Blackpool was a great success having scored in the play-off final to send them to the Premier League. He was a key member of the squad that almost achieved Premier League survival with the club in 2010-11.
In 2022, Adam announced his retirement from football having finished his career at his boyhood club Dundee. His first role after retirement was loans manager for Burnley before making his managerial debut with Fleetwood in League One after his appointment in December 2023.
Despite an upturn in form, the former Scotland international could not keep Fleetwood in the third tier and they were relegated with one game to spare. Despite the relegation on his CV, Blackpool are rumoured to be eyeing up their former midfielder as a replacement for the departed Neil Critchley. Given that the 38 year old is less than a year into his contract, Blackpool would expect to pay compensation for Adam but might be a popular option to get the supporters onside.
What would Adam bring to Blackpool?
After his appointment in December 2023, Fleetwood had a slight upturn in form and managed to take their fight for survival to the penultimate weekend of the season despite being cut adrift for large parts of it. In his 27 games managed to date, Adam has won eight games with a win percentage of 30% and 1.2 points per game.
The Cod Army’s start to the season has been promising as well with three games played without defeat. After beating Grimsby on the first day of the season, Fleetwood have managed to pick up draws against many people’s favourites for promotion in Notts County and Gillingham.
When talking about his style of play, Adam is fairly pragmatic in his approach and bases his playing style on what is in front of him:
“Ultimately, it comes down to what players you have – in terms of coaching them on a day-to-day basis and getting them better, making them better on the grass every day”.
“You always have a plan; you have a strategy of what you see is the perfect way of playing. But it’s not until you’re actually in a job until you go and see what you have as a squad, and you tweak it, and you add to it… the principles will always be the same in what I want to do”.
This season, Adam has predominantly played a 3-1-4-2 formation and has seemingly built from the back with a strong defensive unit. So far, Fleetwood have kept two clean sheets out of the three league games and rank first in the fourth tier for successful tackles per match with 14.
In terms of attack, the Cod Army have looked to play the ball down the middle of the pitch and get crosses into the box for their strikers to get on the end of. They rank fifth in League Two for accurate crosses per match with 5.7 and seventh for accurate long balls per match with 28. Coupled with this, Fleetwood have had the lowest average possession in the league so far this season.
This may be Adam’s pragmatic approach in action having played the likes of Notts County and Grimsby who rank first and seventh in the league, respectively, for average possession. The opponents faced may have impacted Adam’s idea of soaking up pressure and keeping a solid defensive structure.
Should Adam end up as Blackpool manager, the fans may expect a front-foot, attacking brand of football at Bloomfield Road which may test the former Liverpool man’s pragmatist style. Despite this, the appointment would be a popular one with Adam a firm fan’s favourite amongst Blackpool fans after his successful time as a player with the Lancashire side.
