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There are two enduring images of Tony Adams. Good guy, bad guy. Good guy: the Arsenal and England player, Captain Courageous for club and country. Arm raised, appealing for offside, face contorted in near-panic as he implores the referee to act. A fist-pumping talisman, a “kick ’em into Row Z” central defender; an unquestionable leader of men.

Bad guy: the Guinness-fuelled drunk, the life and soul of the Arsenal pub culture that bedevilled Highbury in the 1990s. The intoxicated driver of a car that demolished a wall, the prison inmate; the sad shell of a man who descended into the abyss, tearfully admitting to alcoholism.

Yesterday, as Adams succeeded Harry Redknapp as manager of Portsmouth, neither image rang true. There was no state-of-the-nation address, no up-and-at-’em oratory. No emotional outpouring, either; no rambling incoherence.

Times Archive, 1983: Tony Adams' Arsenal debut

Adams, a 17-year-old, got an early pass, nervously lost control, and the ball went to West, who hit a speculative long shot past Jennings

• Times Archive: Sport

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Adams, dressed in three-piece suit and tie with a poppy in his lapel, dealt articulately with the gentle scrutiny of an inquisitive press. “It’s my next step,” he said of his appointment. “I think it’s my time, I think I’m ready.”

It was as if his good-guy, bad-guy past, the rough-with-the-smooth existence, had been a figment of a fertile imagination. It was Adams reborn, not in the pretentious manner that some have accused him of adopting in recent years as he sought to reshape his life, but with a fresh and boyish enthusiasm, his eyes alive and sparkling.

“I’m one of those annoying people who keep getting back up,” Adams, 42, said. He was and he is. Arsenal, his only club, benefited hugely from his 669 appearances between 1983 and 2002. So did England, for whom he won 66 caps, 15 as captain, between 1987 and 2000.

Adams was the tower of strength at the heart of the Arsenal defence, forming the “Famous Four” alongside Lee Dixon, Steve Bould and Nigel Winter-burn. He collected four winner’s medals in the old first division and Premier League, three in the FA Cup, two in the League Cup and one in the Cup Winners’ Cup.

Many of those were accrued amid an off-pitch haze of incidents: the day-long benders, the thumping hang-overs, the falling down the stairs, the childish letting-off of fire extinguishers. It was only after the arrival of Arsène Wenger as Arsenal manager in 1996 that Adams, having confronted his alcoholism, stepped back from the brink. Wenger offered tender guidance and Adams got back up again.

“I was sick and tired of being sick and tired,” he recalled. “I threw the towel in, which was unusual for me because it was against everything I’d ever learnt – ‘You’re a winner, you’re a winner.’ I had to ask for help from other people.”

Adams kicked the bottle. He changed – he had to – and sought refuge in the arts and the theatre. He also learnt to play the piano. His former teammates may have sniggered at his newly discovered peace of mind, as if he had found God and was preaching to the unconverted, but the tranquillity helped him to fight his demons.

Helping others helped him, too. In January 2000, and with £200,000 of his own money, he set up the Sporting Chance Clinic in Hampshire, a charitable foundation that has provided counselling and support for approaching 1,000 sportsmen and women with addictions.

Adams still visits the clinic on a weekly basis to check on its progress. He wrote to Joey Barton, the troubled Newcastle United midfield player, to offer advice when he was in prison recently. “You don’t hear about those sort of things about Tony,” Peter Kay, the Sporting Chance chief executive, said yesterday. “But that’s just the type of guy he is.”

Kay, also a recovering alcoholic, is a close friend of Adams. Kay is a god-parent to Adams’s 18-month-old son, Hector, and believes that Adams can make a success of his new post at Fratton Park. “Tony was born to do the job,” Kay said. “It was inevitable, really. This now, then possibly Arsenal, then possibly England. He’s a born leader and he’s only going one way from now on.

“He is a quiet, humble man and is superb at delegating, immensely knowledgeable and wise beyond his years. He’s as hard as nails when he needs to be, but he has that beautiful mixture of sensitivity and compassion. He understands human beings really well.”

After his playing days had ended, Adams was appointed manager of Wycombe Wanderers in November 2003. Wrong place, wrong time. He lasted only 12 months before resignation followed relegation. He took off to the Netherlands, to reinvent himself as a trainee coach with Feyenoord and Utrecht, before joining Redknapp as his assistant in June 2006.

Adams has not touched alcohol for 11 years and drinks only tea and still water. He had considered sparkling water as an option, but Wenger said that it was bad for him. “We’ve always been in regular contact when it has been needed,” Wenger said yesterday. The Frenchman’s influence on Adams lingers. So, too, that of Bob Wilson, the former Arsenal goalkeeper.

“I’ve been alongside Tony during his dark moments,” Wilson said. “He’s now really mellow, not the war-warrior he once was. He now understands what is good and bad in life.”

Adams would appear to have been accepted by the Portsmouth supporters. On Sunday, in the traumatic aftermath of Redknapp’s abrupt departure to Tottenham Hotspur, the home fans chanted “Tony Adams’ blue-and-white army” during the 1-1 draw with Fulham at Fratton Park. As a vote of confidence, it was overwhelming.

Again, though, Adams sought the advice of Wenger before agreeing to step back into the front line, the all-consuming spotlight that is the Barclays Premier League. Once bitten, twice shy? Not at all. He was ready.

“Yes, I spoke with Arsène last night,” Adams said as he began the next chapter of his chequered career, his latest journey. “He said, ‘Welcome to hell!’ ” For Adams, that should not be a problem. He has already been there.

Highs and lows

1966 Born Romford, Oct 10
1983 Makes Arsenal debut, aged 17
1987 Wins first of 66 England caps (15 as captain) against Spain
1988 Becomes youngest Arsenal captain and leads them to their first league title for 18 years
1990 Serves two months of a four-month jail sentence after admitting to drink-driving offences
1996 Adams confesses to having a problem with alcohol
1998 Helps to lead Arsenal to the league and FA Cup Double
2000 Named as England captain
Nov 5, 2003 Appointed manager of Wycombe Wanderers
May 2004 Wycombe relegated
Nov 9 Resigns as manager
July 2005 Takes coaching role with Feyenoord youth side
Jan 2006 Becomes trainee coach with Utrecht
June 28 Appointed assistant manager at Portsmouth
Oct 28, 2008 Confirmed as Portsmouth manager