Adams: I offered to quit over players scandal

Micky Adams has revealed he offered to quit as Leicester manager following events during the club’s training camp in La Manga which have left three players in prison and facing sexual aggression charges.

Adams admitted he felt a “moral obligation” to stand down if chairman Jim McCahill and the rest of the board believed he was not “the right man to take this club forward.”

But the former Fulham boss was backed by the Foxes hierarchy and is now determined to try to pick up the pieces of a nightmare few days and strive to keep the club in the Premiership.

Paul Dickov, Keith Gillespie and Frank Sinclair have been detained in a Spanish jail since Thursday evening after allegations were made against them by three German women.

Adams said: “I did consider quitting but I’ve never run away from anything in my life yet. This is a situation that has nothing to do with football and I’m not going to do it.

“I felt a moral obligation to offer my resignation. I felt I had a moral obligation to speak to the board and the chairman and say to them if I wasn’t the right man to take this club forward, I would step down.

“Fortunately, I was assured I was the right man for the job and that gives me strength. Everything I faced last week had nothing to do with being a football manager.

“It’s not new to me at this club because last season I had difficult times in terms of when the club went into administration. But nothing can compare with what happened last week.

“Paul Mace (chief operating officer), Dave Bassett (director of football) and Tim Davies (chief executive) handled the situation here and out there in Spain, We had fantastic help from the La Manga club and our legal representatives.

“If I hadn’t have had that support I don’t think I would have coped. But I did, I got through it. It’s been a difficult time for me but I’m not quitting.”

He added: “It would be easy for me walk away from this club and this situation but I owe it to the fans of Leicester to see it through.”

Adams was adamant his players are ‘innocent until proven guilty’ but admitted he had made mistakes regarding the trip and that some of the players had “let themselves down” with their behaviour.

He now regrets he did not impose a curfew or drinking ban on his 21 players after they had arrived in Spain.

Adams said: “If they have let themselves down, then it’s a small minority drinking a certain amount in the early hours of the morning – and that’s all they’ve let me down on.

“If they are guilty of anything, they are guilty of being unprofessional 24 hours before a training session.

“If I’m guilty of anything, it’s that I didn’t put a curfew on the players. But curfews can be broken.

“They knew they were there to train and were to report at 10.30am bright and breezy at the training camp. But everybody knows that, rightly or wrongly, I treat my players as adults.

“I can’t be with these players 24 hours a day. I didn’t set a curfew but they were expected to train the following day.

“I told them of their responsibilities but a minority let themselves down so I’m disappointed with that.

“It is easy for me to say ‘ban alcohol.’ In the comfort of their own home, how can I stop them drinking?”

Adams went on: “On organised club trips, there are lessons to learn. I accept a certain amount of criticism for that because I didn’t put a blanket ban on it (drinking) but I can’t patrol 21 players 24 hours a day.”

Adams is still maintaining his players are innocent, claiming: “Hopefully the truth will be told.

“At the moment they are guilty of nothing. They been accused of certain things. I have not lost faith with any of them.

“I’m telling you that some of the players charged were not there and we have witnesses and statements to prove they were not there.”