Neil Adams began his career with Stoke City, a winger by trade, but it was at Everton where he made his name.

The Toffees paid £150,000 for his signature in June, 1986, and while his time at Goodison Park was interrupted by injuries, he was able to put a First Division (now Premier League) winner's medal in is personal trophy cabinet in 1987.

He added two Charity Shield medals and also won his first England Under-21 cap, in Sweden.

Three years later he moved on to Oldham Athletic for £100,000 and was an integral part of their promotion to the newly-formed Premier League in 1992 as well as helping the Latics reach the 1990 League Cup final against Nottingham Forest.

Adams' love affair with Norwich City began in February 1994 when he was signed for £250,000, quickly becoming a regular.

Adams had six seasons at Carrow Road, earning a reputation as a fearsome penalty taker – missing only once from the spot – and dead-ball specialist.

He missed only one game in 1996-97 and was second leading scorer with 16. Adams made 206 appearances for City, scoring 30 goals.

He returned to Oldham in 1999 for another two seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire - he is still held in high regard at the club.

Adams then took a role in the media - he was a columnist in the Pink Un and a matchday analyst on BBC Radio Norfolk.

However, that came to an end when he rejoined City, working in their youth set-up, working with the Under-14s. He was controversially relieved of his duties in May, 2008, by then manager Glenn Roeder, apparently because of his media work, but reinstated four months later.

In July, 2011, he left BBC Radio Norfolk to take a full-time coaching role.

The highlight came a year ago when he led City to victory in the FA Youth Cup with a magnificent victory over Chelsea.

When Chris Hughton was sacked in April, Adams was put in charge of the first team. He had five games in which to save City's season, starting with Fulham. City lose the game, which was seen as essential to their survival hopes, given that the remaining fixtures were against Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal. The only rewards from those five games was a point in a 0-0 draw at Chelsea in the penultimate game of the season.