{"id":20969,"date":"2026-04-24T08:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/20969\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T08:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:35:11","slug":"tony-adams-30-years-ago-i-was-at-point-of-no-return-this-is-why-im-now-running-london-marathon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/20969\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Adams: \u201830 years ago, I was at point of no return \u2013 this is why I\u2019m now running London Marathon\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.Read more<\/p>\n

Well documented and well rehearsed, Tony Adams<\/a> has been through this line of questioning for some time. Three decades, in fact. It was the summer of 1996 \u2013 a home European Championships \u2013 when the then England<\/a> captain reached rock bottom. After an excruciating penalty shootout exit against Germany, the talismanic centre-back embarked on a ghastly 44-day bender, mixing brandy with Guinness to avoid consistent vomiting. By August, aged 29, his alcohol addiction had gone too far. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt so lonely and so desperate,\u201d Adams recalls, now 30 years sober. \u201cI was blacking out and it got into my psyche. I had this mask on, so no one saw it, but underneath I was dying. Everything had stopped working: the football, the drink. I felt scared, in terror, and I just didn\u2019t want to be here. I had a moment where I broke down and cried \u2013 and that was a moment of clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adams, refreshingly forthright and candid, speaks powerfully in adding: \u201cI was stuck at that point of no return. We called it the \u2018jumping-off point\u2019 in [Alcoholics] Anonymous. I couldn\u2019t work, my family had gone, and everything had collapsed. So fast forward 30 years, to now running around smiling at people on Sunday\u2026 that\u2019s very special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AdamsAdams (bottom-centre) hit rock bottom after captaining England at Euro 96 (Getty)<\/p>\n

Sixty-six England caps; 672 Arsenal<\/a> appearances; 13 trophies. It\u2019s quite the footballing haul. Now, four years on from his memorable two-month stint on Strictly Come Dancing, Adams is embarking on another mighty adventure in his 60th year. On Sunday, he will run the London Marathon<\/a>, battling all the creaking of a metal knee in the process. <\/p>\n

A larger-than-life figure in public, Adams will run for The Forward Trust, a charity he has chaired for 18 months, which helps people break the cycles of addiction, crime and unemployment. And he is keen to stress that, even on a day where the capital comes alive with annual fervour and exuberance from all corners, you never know what\u2019s going on deep within. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven in a marathon with 50,000 people running, you never know who\u2019s struggling,\u201d he says. \u201cI used to sit in rehab and try to guess who would \u2018get it\u2019. I was always wrong. Addiction is insidious; it\u2019s buried inside. You can\u2019t tell what someone is going through just by looking at them.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur charity is about real change. We\u2019ve helped 1,000 people into employment last year and 35,000 people in total. Charities everywhere are struggling and we\u2019re not a very \u2018sexy\u2019 charity. Alcohol and drug abuse are not high on the agenda. There\u2019s no real funding for rehabilitation \u2013 but we\u2019re trying to provide it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Beyond bygone stories of Arsenal\u2019s infamous \u201cTuesday Club\u201d of the 1990s, where the likes of Adams, Paul Merson, Ray Parlour and Lee Dixon embarked on heavy drinking sessions, Adams\u2019s personal journey with sobriety reached a rather heart-rending chapter two years ago when his son Oliver, now 34, revealed the booze had taken hold of him too. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my son came to me and said, \u2018I\u2019m done, Dad\u2019, I knew what I had to do,\u201d Adams says. \u201cThat\u2019s the difference compared to 30 years ago, when I reached out. Now, I know the solution. I can pass it on and he can pass it on to others. That\u2019s why I do Chance [Adams founded the Sporting Chance Clinic in 2000, which provides addiction and mental health support for athletes] and The Forward Trust. It\u2019s getting people to the right help.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, Adams seems in arguably the best place he\u2019s ever been. Or as he describes it, three days out from \u201cplodding\u201d around 26 miles, \u201clife is pretty wonderful.\u201d He has taken a \u201cless is more\u201d approach to training, having not completed a training run longer than 10 miles. Are alarm bells ringing? Not quite \u2013 Adams has been through this stage of anticipation before. <\/p>\n

\"AdamsAdams won 13 trophies at Arsenal (Getty)\"AdamsAdams is chairman of trustees at the Forward Trust, a charity supporting recovering addicts (Mike Egerton\/PA) (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quite calm, I\u2019m used to big events,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like Strictly \u2013 mentally, that was really tough. This will be a bit of fun, but you\u2019ve got to be careful not to get carried away with the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first trophy [the League Cup] was against Liverpool in 1987, but I was a young 21-year-old running around trying to win the game on my own. I left a big hole behind me and Ian Rush scored. That taught me a valuable lesson.\u201d <\/p>\n

Although insisting he is \u201cnot competitive\u201d, Adams can\u2019t help but mention the marathon time of John Terry \u2013 another former England centre-back captain, though 14 years younger \u2013 who clocked in at just over five hours last year. Adams is more conservative \u2013 \u201cprobably under six hours\u201d \u2013 yet the Gunners legend does not need an invitation for a gentle jab at his London rivals. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my last game, in 2002 against Chelsea, I just did my job,\u201d he says. \u201cI got through the match, we won 2-0 and lifted another double. I\u2019m approaching the marathon in the same way. I\u2019m not going to run 26 miles in the first mile. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been very lucky and won a lot in my career, but finishing the marathon would be equal to any achievement. This is personal, I\u2019m on my own out there, but there\u2019s a different responsibility to this one.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[9693,9692,6855,173,9695,578,9694,9696,27,9698,6856,9699,9700,9697],"class_list":["post-20969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-allsport","tag-asdip","tag-bestof","tag-england","tag-euro-96","tag-football","tag-forshul","tag-gazza","tag-london","tag-topics","tag-topix","tag-toppics","tag-toppix","tag-wembley"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116458771120870418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}