He was an 18-year-old between the sticks at Tranmere when he took on the challenge of helming Birkenhead Sunday League fifth division side Renbad Rovers – and won five promotions.
“I’ve kept all the teamsheets, all the different formations, who scored the goals and my notes of how we played,†says Adkins. “They were good days, knocking around with my mates while I was on the books as a goalkeeper at Tranmere and then at Wigan.
“We even produced our own little match programmes – sheets of A4 paper folded in half, with the teams on the back and the manager’s notes inside – and my wife used to help out with those.
“They were a good bunch, and from the Birkenhead Sunday League fifth division we went up to the fourth, third, second, first and premier divisions, so I got the taste for winning promotion at a young age.
“One year we won the league and cup double, so I took the trophies into training one morning at Wigan and placed them beneath my peg in the dressing room.
“We had our own fenced-off pitch at Newton on the Wirral with our own clubhouse, and we did our own fundraising.
“It was smarter than your average Sunday league set-up, but there were also days when we played in parks where you would have to clear the dogs’ mess off the pitch first.
“We’ve been to the grass roots and back, but it gave me a fantastic grounding, and it stood me in good stead when I moved on to Bangor as player-manager in the mid-90s.â€
Adkins adds: “I would drive the minibus to away games, stopping to pick up some of the lads from their building sites, but if you love football those things aren’t chores. They were special times.
