Portsmouth boss Tony Adams admits the arrival of Arsene Wenger almost saw him walk out of Arsenal.

He revealed in 'Arsenal - The Biography': "For the only time in all my years at Arsenal I thought about leaving. I wanted to know if the club was moving forward or not."

Reassurance came from chairman Peter Hill-Wood in a phone call that informed Adams: "A good man is on his way and he will be with you shortly."

That man was Wenger - but he upset Adams in his first game in charge, the second leg of a UEFA Cup tie against Borussia Moenchengladbach. Arsenal had lost 3-2 at home but had not given up hope of progressing.

At half-time Wenger made his impact. "He came swanning into the dressing room and changed the whole tactics around," said Adams. "We had been playing three at the back under Bruce Rioch and had finished fourth in the league and been in the semi-finals of the League Cup. Hardly a disaster.

"Suddenly he came in and changed everything and took me off as well. I just went mad. We lost and went out of Europe."

Adams spoke with Wenger back at Highbury and forcefully pointed out that his last chance of a European medal could have gone. "I went ballistic," said Adams. "But he said he would take note - very calm and assured."

The duo had another meeting. "Again, he stayed calm and said, 'OK, we play three at the back'.

"We finished with three at the back and ended up fourth in the league. We then started to see the quality of player he was bringing in and I could see the club was moving forward."