It's common knowledge that Singapore football needs a shot in the arm.

Singapore is currently ranked 172 by FIFA, behind football giants like Afghanistan (142), Tahiti (161), and Malaysia (170).

Win-less year

Recently, one of our homegrown football legends V. Sundramoorthy made the difficult decision to step down as manager of the national team on April 9.

Sundram's record was disappointing, including failing to qualify from the group stages of the 2016 AFF Suzuki Cup, and going an entire year without a win in 2017.

So, it's clear that something has to change.

Enter a saviour from overseas?

Adams to the rescue

On April 25, Channel NewsAsia reported that Tony Adams has supposedly applied for the job.

Adams is a legend of English football. The former Arsenal football club captain won four league titles with them, including the famous League and FA Cup Double in the 1997-1998 and 2001-2002 seasons.

Sounds good?

Well, Adams' managerial career hasn't managed to hit the heights of his playing career.

Woeful Wycombe

Adams started off at a smaller football club, Wycombe Wanderers, in 2003.

Wycombe were competing in England's League One, the third-tier of English football behind the Championship and the Premier League.

After a year under Adams, Wycombe's form tanked and they were relegated to League Two. He resigned shortly afterwards.

Pathetic Portsmouth

After a spell in the Netherlands, Adams returned to English football as the assistant manager of Portsmouth Football Club, under Harry Redknapp. Portsmouth won the FA Cup in 2008, but Redknapp left to manage Tottenham Hotspur.

Adams took over in October 2008 as the full-time manager, but was sacked in February 2009 following a poor run.

Awkward in Azerbaijan

For his next job, Adams looked further abroad.

He settled on FC Gabala in the Central Asian nation of Azerbaijan, apparently impressed with the owner's vision.

However, reality would not live up to his expectations.

Adams resigned after just 12 games, citing the poor infrastructure and the separation from his family. He also mentioned that he felt his children weren't receiving a good education in the country.

Despite this, Adams stuck around for three years as the club's "advisor", overseeing the restructuring of the club.

Unfortunately, he left Gabala after undergoing heart surgery.

Goodbye Granada

Adams befriended a Chinese millionaire named Jiang Lizhang, who purchased 98 percent of Spanish club Granada.

Although they were in the top-tier Spanish league, the team wasn't performing well and was tipped for relegation.

Enter Tony Adams. His mission was to assess the club and restructure its coaching team. However, he was appointed caretaker manager for the final seven games in 2017.

Under Adams, Granada proceeded to lose all seven games, conceding 17 goals and scoring just three in reply.

The club was relegated to the second division in Spain.

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A gamble

Adams is an Arsenal legend, and he has had the privilege of being managed by Arsenal Wenger, a true revolutionary figure in football.

But that hasn't seemed to help him succeed at his various managerial roles so far.

While he might bring some interest to local football, as the best choice to take our team forward would require some assessment.

Not that foreign coaches haven't done well in Singapore before.

Serbian coach Radojko "Raddy" Avramovic famously led the national team to a Tiger Cup win in 2005 and an ASEAN Football Championship in 2007.

But nothing in Adams' managerial career has suggested that he could match Raddy's record.

It remains to be seen if Adams will get the job, but if he does succeed in Singapore, it will be a first.

For him and us.

(H/T: thesefootballtimes.com)

Top image by Ben Radford/Getty Images