Charlie Adam

By Craig · Published 31 October 2026

Blackpool's season in the Premier League lasted one year and felt like ten. They won at Wigan on the opening day, beat Liverpool home and away, and went down on the last afternoon at Old Trafford. Through all of it, the ball went to Charlie Adam: a left foot from Dundee, 12 league goals from midfield, and a free kick or a raking crossfield pass for every occasion. Four years later, at Stamford Bridge, he scored the goal he is still asked about.

Clubs

Rangers, Ross County (loan), St Mirren (loan), Blackpool, Liverpool, Stoke City, Reading, Dundee

Premier League

207 appearances, 33 goals (Blackpool, Liverpool and Stoke, 2010 to 2018)

Honours

League Cup 2012 (Liverpool), First Division 2005/06 (St Mirren), shortlisted for PFA Players' Player of the Year 2010/11

International

Scotland, 26 caps

Fantasy price

£9.5m in 2010/11

How he arrived

Adam came through at Rangers, with loans at Ross County and St Mirren along the way. Blackpool took him on loan in February 2009 and made it permanent that August for a reported £500,000, then a club record.

Ian Holloway built the side around him. On 22 May 2010, in the Championship play-off final at Wembley, Cardiff went ahead after nine minutes. Four minutes later Adam curled a free kick into the corner, Blackpool won 3-2, and the seaside club were in the Premier League.

The moment: Chelsea, 4 April 2015

By 2015 Adam was at Stoke, and Chelsea were on their way to the title. Eden Hazard had put them ahead from the spot after 39 minutes. A minute before the break, the ball came to Adam inside his own half. Thibaut Courtois was off his line. Adam hit it from around 65 yards, it swerved over the back-pedalling keeper, and it was 1-1.

Chelsea won 2-1 in the end, but nobody remembers that. Adam says José Mourinho told him afterwards that not even Messi or Ronaldo had scored one like it. He had tried that shot plenty of times before. This was the one that went in.

Why the streets won't forget

The Chelsea goal is the clip, but the Blackpool season is the reason. Holloway's side came up through the play-offs and went at everybody. They won 4-0 at Wigan on the opening day, beat Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield in October and 2-1 at Bloomfield Road in January, their first league double over Liverpool since 1946/47, and beat Spurs 3-1 in February.

Adam was the man it all went through. He had the left foot, the range of passing and the set pieces, and he scored 12 league goals from midfield. He was shortlisted for the PFA Players' Player of the Year from a side that would go down. Liverpool bid for him in January. Blackpool said no and kept him for the run-in.

It wasn't quite enough. They went to Old Trafford on the final day, lost 4-2 andfinished 19th on 39 points. That is part of why the season sticks. Nobody remembers a promoted side that sat in 15th and kept quiet. Everybody remembers the one that went for it, with a Scottish midfielder pinging it about and nobody quite believing what they were watching.

Where is he now

Liverpool got their man in the end, signing him in July 2011 for a reported £6.75m. He won the League Cup in his first season, beating Cardiff at Wembley again, although he missed his penalty in the shootout. Stoke took him on 31 August 2012 for about £4m, and he gave them six Premier League seasons, Chelsea included, until they went down in 2018.

After Reading in 2019 he went home to Dundee, captained them to promotion through the 2020/21 Premiership play-off and retired in September 2022. Coaching came next: loans manager at Burnley, then head coach of Fleetwood from 31 December 2023 until 22 December 2024. In January 2025 David Moyes made him Everton's first set-piece coach, which made a lot of sense to anyone who watched him at Blackpool. He left that job in June 2025 to look for a manager or head coach role of his own.

Which seasons can you draft him in?

Six. The game's squads leave out 2015/16 and 2017/18, when he was in and out of the Stoke side.

Want him in your retro fantasy football team? Pick him in 2010/11 for £9.5m and see how far that left foot can take you.