Micky Adams Reveals Details of La Manga Sex Scandal in New Book
Former Leicester City boss Micky Adams has opened up on the events that saw his career permanently stained by a sex scandal in 2004.
Adams was in charge of the Foxes when three of their stars were thrown in a Spanish jail after wrongly being accused of rape.
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Stars Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie were all arrested when women reported that the players had raped and abused them after forcing their way into their room at the La Manga Hotel in Spain.
In his new book, My Life in Football, a venture undertaken along with journalist Neil Moxley, Adams also revealed that Matt Elliott's wife had told him Spanish police could keep her husband after he was taken in for questioning.
“It really does haunt me," he wrote, in quotes cited by the Mirror.
"I’d like to be remembered as a decent manager, but when you look up ‘Micky Adams Leicester City’, what comes up?
“It’s not saving a club from administration. It’s not getting promotion. It’s not playing in the Premier League. It’s La Manga.”
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He also described the actual arrests, explaining that no one was allowed to leave the hotel.
“As soon as we sat down, two armed guards came and stood in front of the doors. It was clear it was no longer a laughing matter. No one was now allowed to leave the building.”
The three players mentioned above faced rape charges following their arrests, but were all acquitted after DNA evidence showed that the men had never had sexual intercourse with any of their accusers.
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Adams was also tasked with the huge undertaking of informing his players' wives and families, and one in particular didn't even seem to care.
After ringing up Elliott's spouse and telling her that there had been an incident, he was immediately met with: “Let me stop you there. Does it involve women?”
To which he replied: “Well, er, sort of, but I’m not really sure he’s been involved. But I’m just ringing you to let you know that he won’t be in touch for a day or so because he’s, er, been arrested.”
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The understandably peeved wife promptly killed the call, but not before saying: "They can f***ing keep him. They can lock him up.”
The shocking response did help lighten the mood around the camp, but only for a short period.
The Spanish authorities were also said to have intercepted food sent to the players from the team while they were locked up.
“We arranged for the hotel to put together a load of grub and blankets and send it to the police station where we were assured the lads would be fed," Adams continued.
"Yeah, right. To this day, I don’t know what happened but not one of the players saw so much as an apple. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the Spanish police had a great feed at Leicester City’s expense.”
He is also convinced that the entire thing was a ploy set up to revive a struggling business.
"The girls said that they had been paid by another tourist to go to the hotel and spend time with the players, but they never divulged who he was.
“Afterwards, the hotel went from empty to full with publicity like you wouldn’t believe.
"Was it helpful to have a sex scandal involving Premier League footballers at a hotel complex struggling to find a buyer? We were front page news on a global scale.”
The manager coached at Coventry, Brighton, Port Vale, Sheffield United and Tranmere Rovers after leaving Leicester 13 years ago, but believes that his reputation was irreparably ruined by what happened at La Manga.
“I had just turned 40," he said. "Nothing can prepare you for an event like that. Nothing."
