Tony Adams has been confirmed as Granada’s manager until the end of the season after Lucas Alcaraz was sacked on Monday.
Adams, 50, was appointed as the Spanish club’s sporting director by the Chinese owner Jiang Lizhang last week but will now take charge of the club for the final seven matches of the league campaign as they attempt to avoid relegation.
The former Arsenal captain, whose last managerial post was in charge of the Azerbaijani club Gabala FC in 2011, is a close confidant of Lizhang and also acts as vice-president of his DDMC Football Club Management Company.
“After assessing the situation the team is in, Granada CF has decided to part company with Lucas Alcaraz and his coaching staff,” read a club statement. “In his place, the club has total confidence in Tony Adams, vice-president of DDMC, as head coach of Granada CF until the end of the season.”
Adams, who retired in August 2002 having led Arsenal to four championship and three FA Cups, began his managerial career at Wycombe Wanderers in 2003 before taking over at Portsmouth in 2009.
Granada are seven points adrift of safety with only seven games to go and have failed to win in the league since 1 March.
Speaking about his appointment last week, Adams said he was hopeful of guiding the club to a mid-table position. “I believe that with patience, the structure we are setting in place will be able to take the club where we want it to be, once more,” he said. “We want to be a mid-table team in La Liga with players who belong to Granada CF, with a world‑class academy developing local and Spanish players, with world‑class training facilities.”
Adams spent last season working with the Chinese Super League side Chongqing Dangdai Lifan, who are also owned by Lizhang.
“If there’s a Chinese player playing with the first team eventually, then that would be the icing on the cake for the president, but he’s certainly not going to insist on that,” he said. “All these things will take time, as sometimes you need to take one step back and clear up all the problems, before you can take two steps forward.”
