Dundee ‘get creative’ with sponsors’ cash to seal Charlie Adam deal

Ex-Scotland and Liverpool midfielder joins boyhood club

Charlie Adam made 21 league appearances for Reading in the English Championship last season. Picture: David Davies/PA

Charlie Adam joined Dundee after the club were able to finance a two-year deal for the former Liverpool midfielder with the help of three club sponsors.

The move is an enormously poignant one for Adam, who grew up supporting the club. His late father, Charlie senior, was also a fan but ended up signing for Dundee United in the late 1980s. After weeks of negotiations as Dundee sought to put together a suitable package, Adam jnr finally put pen to paper at Dens Park yesterday.

“I am here and I am delighted to be here,” said the 34-year-old. “This is my club that I have grown up supporting. I used to stand on the terraces. So it is nice to now officially to get on the pitch and play for the club that I love and hopefully we can be successful.”

Dundee felt it was right to reveal some aspects of the deal, having been forced to make a number of staff redundant amid cost cutting efforts in recent months due to the impact of Covid-19.

“Negotiations surrounding the deal have gone on for a number of weeks but we are delighted to agree a deal that suits all parties,” said a statement. “For the financial stability of the club we had to stay outwith the financial plan created to help us through the 2020/21 season.

“We were open to the fact that this meant we would have to get creative to make this deal happen and we would like to place on record our thanks to three current club sponsors, without whom it would not have been possible.”

Adam will be unveiled at a press conference at Dens Park today. He has chosen to wear the No 26 shirt, which is the number of times he played for Scotland.

Dundee club shop DFC Direct are offering free “Adam 26” printing on the back of any home and away shirt bought before the end of tomorrow.

As well as being a supporter, Adam has already played twice for the club. He turned out for his boyhood side in 2015 in a testimonial for former Dens Park goalkeeper Julian Speroni, who enjoyed a successful 15-year career at Crystal Palace.

Dundee fell to a 4-3 defeat but Adam scored one of their goals, pointing to the sky afterwards in a tribute to his father, who had taken his own life in Dundee two and-a-half years earlier after suffering depression. Like his son, Adam snr was a midfielder who played for Brechin City, Partick Thistle and St Johnstone as well as Dundee United among others.

Adam junior also turned out for Dundee against St Johnstone three years ago in a testimonial for the Perth side’s Scottish Cup-winning skipper Dave Mackay, now the assistant manager at Dundee.

Adam was a player with Stoke City at the time. Most recently, he was playing in the English Championship with Reading, for whom he made 21 league appearances last season.

Adam started his career at Rangers before moving to Blackpool, where he helped the club secure promotion to the English top-flight with a free-kick goal in a 3-2 play-off final win over Cardiff City in 2011. He was signed by then Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish later that year and won the League Cup against Cardiff City just a few months later. Although like current Rangers manager Steven Gerrard he missed one of the spot-kicks, Liverpool lifted the trophy by winning the shootout 3-2 following a 2-2 draw.

Adam is now training his focus on helping Dundee gain promotion from the Championship. Dundee kick off their league campaign against title favourites Hearts at Tynecastle next month. His competitive debut could come at Dens Park against Forfar Athletic in the Betfred Cup on 6 October.

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