Adams looks to future

Adams: Confident

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Tony Adams is confident he will be given the support he requires to help Portsmouth thrive after the departure of Harry Redknapp.

The former Arsenal and England captain was handed the managerial reins at Fratton Park after Redknapp elected to leave the South Coast for Tottenham.

Despite his impressive record as a player, Adams has little managerial experience, with his only previous stint at Wycombe producing just 12 wins from 53 matches.

There are also reports of problems behind the scenes at Pompey with suggestions club owner Alexandre Gaydamak could be ready to sell and speculation players may need to be sold in the January transfer window.

But Adams is focused solely on the task in hand and is eager to defend the FA Cup and ensure Pompey again finish in the top half of the Premier League table.

Free hand

He said: "I've got a very good squad of players here and I'm looking forward to adding to it and keeping us in the Premier League as well as defending the FA Cup we won last season.

"That is the remit for my job and I love doing it. As far as I know the owner here always backed the manager and I can't worry about whether or not the club will be sold. That's not my department.

"What I believe is that he will give me a free hand and enough for me to work with and I'll be judged on results and recruitment (of players). I'm confident I've got enough contacts and knowledge on the game to do the job.

"If people think I haven't had experience of recruitment they should ask anybody at Wycombe. I had to massively cut the budget and produce a decent team to stop the rot there and of the 21 players I let go I think only two are still playing league football.

"I'm quite proud of what I achieved there and I'm confident that I'll build something good here. For now finishing in the top 10 for a third consecutive season would be fantastic for us."