HODDLE PINS FAITH IN COURAGEOUS ADAMS

Tony Adams, England's inspirational Euro 96 leader, has been given back the captain's armband for tomorrow's World Cup qualifier against Georgia in Tblisli.

But it is only a one-off assignment for the 30-year-old Arsenal giant who is taking over the responsibility in the absence through injury of Glenn Hoddle's new skipper Alan Shearer.

Nevertheless, it is a ringing public endorsement of Adams, who has fought back bravely after confessing this summer to being an alcoholic.

Like team-mate Paul Merson and now Rangers' midfielder Paul Gascoigne, he is undergoing counselling, meeting his therapist last Monday before the squad flew out to Tbilisi.

Adams has also battled back from a serious knee injury which forced him to miss the first seven games of Arsenal's troubled season but his return to fitness has been one of the reasons behind their continued presence among the top clubs of the Premiership.

Hoddle had plenty of candidates to stand in for Shearer, including Stuart Pearce, Gareth Southgate, David Seaman, Paul Ince and long-time skipper David Platt.

But this is a game which could call for raw courage and no one is better at manning the trenches than Adams.

Terry Venables recognised that by making Adams captain for the first time against Romania two years ago and again for four games at the start of last season when Platt was injured.

And, when it came to the crunch in this summer's European Championship finals, Venables turned back to the Titanic centre-half, giving him the armband for a full five games in the near glorious run to the semi-finals where England lost on penalties to Germany.

That experience sent Adams, who had shown great self-discipline over the preceding months, back to the bottle but he quickly realised he had to face up to his problems - and the way he is beating them has earned everybody's admiration.

Hoddle announced the decision before training today but will not reveal the rest of his line-up until just before kick-off tomorrow.

A leaner, slightly more subdued Adams was delighted to retain the armband, saying: ``I am grateful that the manager has shown great faith in me.

But he admitted that at the beginning of the season, captaining his country, was not his first priority as he battled his illness and his knee injury.

``I had other things on my mind which I had to put in order.

``I'm working on myself and I think I'm winning - I'm just trying to be a better person and a better footballer.''

England coach Hoddle said: ``Tony has got all the credentials that make a good captain - he has captained his country before and he is captain of Arsenal. He's got the experience.

``The main thing for me was to see what Tony's form was like and it's as good as ever.

``He has come back leaner than I think he's ever looked over the last three or four years. That's probably a factor from addressing his other problems as well.

``He's looked sharper and played very consistently since he returned to the Arsenal team earlier this season.''

Hoddle re-assured the absent Shearer that he will still be captain - if fit when Italy come to Wembley in February.

He said: ``To be fair to Alan we said we look at the situation again after three games, not knowing he was going to be injured after only the first two.

``If Alan is around in February he will return as captain and we will then look at him after that game.''

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