Addicted

Starting out as a young lad and achieving so much in life and his rise to the pinnacle of his game and then finally stepping out with his heroes, David O’Leary, Charlie Nicholas etc.

Tony isn’t afraid at all to tell us about his addiction to alcohol the book isn’t a big lie but a big truth, which in my opinion what makes this book. He talks about not only his addiction to alcohol but also his early addiction to Football which then became his life.

This is a must for ALL football fans and as a Newcastle fan I found this a great read as I have admired TA for a long time as a professional footballer.


A brutally honest account of a life transformed   April 28, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

Football fan or not, Arsenal fan or not, Addicted is worth reading for anyone who wishes to gain an insight into the world of addiction.
This book is like a punch in the solar plexus. Adams bares his soul through page after page, detailing the self-loathing of a man hooked on competing, but for whom life outside the game becomes a nightmare. Unable to cope with the boredom of days off, unable to face the real self which lay behind the public persona, and unable to find a way to live a stable, reasonable life when not on a pitch, Adams' descent into a shameless, alcohol-infused hell is spelt out in the starkest detail. It is gripping stuff, in the way that watching an accident happen before your eyes is gripping. You can't tear yourself away from the story, which unfolds quickly before your eyes.
Yet thankfully this is also a happy end book, in which the seeds of Adams' new life are sown and begin to grow. Talking through his experiences and sharing them with other alcoholics, Adams grows from the ugly, angry, competitive caterpillar into a cultured butterfly – university student, crtic; it's as if his life has opened up, from one facet to many.
This book can surely give hope to all those whose opinion of themselves is far too harsh and critical; it shows that we are never too young to learn, to turn away from the "dark" towards the light of human achievement, and that life is not about pursuing one or two obsessions to the detriment of everything else.
Adams has paid a heavy price for his addiction, losing a marriage and losing the memories of some fantastic sporting achievements along the way, but in this well-written book it is clear that he is far from finished. I predict him to manage Arsenal to a string of titles when Arsene hangs up his clipboard!