Charles Graham Adam (born 10 December 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the set-piece coach at Everton. Prior to that, he was the manager of EFL League Two club Fleetwood Town.
Adam started his senior career with Rangers. He spent much of his early senior career on loan to Ross County and St Mirren. While on loan to St Mirren during the 2005–06 season, Adam was part of the team that won both the Scottish Challenge Cup and First Division, playing in over thirty matches for the Saints. Upon returning to Rangers at the end of the 2006 season, he became a regular under managers Paul Le Guen and Walter Smith. Adam was also part of the Rangers team that reached the 2008 UEFA Cup Final.
After falling out of favour at Rangers during 2008–09, Adam was loaned out to English Championship side Blackpool. The loan was made permanent at the start of the 2009–10 season, and Adam became an integral part of the Blackpool side, captaining the team to a play-off victory over Cardiff City which resulted in their promotion to the Premier League. Adam shone in his first season in the Premier League, his performances being recognised with a nomination for the PFA Players' Player of the Year in April 2011; however, Blackpool were relegated the following month, and he transferred to Liverpool in July.
After one season at Anfield, Adam joined Stoke City in August 2012 for a fee of £4 million. He spent seven seasons with Stoke, making 179 appearances, before joining Reading in July 2019. Adam returned to his boyhood club Dundee in September 2020. He captained them for two years and led them to promotion to the Scottish Premiership.
Adam played at under-21, B and full international levels for Scotland.
Adam was part of the Dundee and Rangers youth set-ups. He won the Scottish Youth Cup with Rangers in 2001–02. He made his senior debut for Rangers on 14 April 2004 against Livingston. He played sporadically for Rangers thereafter, but did not become a first-team regular until the management of Paul Le Guen.
Adam made an appearance at the start of the 2004–05 season, and then joined First Division club Ross County on loan for the rest of that campaign. While in Dingwall, Adam made fifteen appearances, scoring twice, against Raith Rovers and St Mirren. He also played in the 2004 Scottish Challenge Cup Final against Falkirk. County were ahead courtesy of David Winters 56th-minute goal. Adam was substituted in the 60th minute as was teammate Sean Higgins six minutes later. Neil Scally and Darryl Duffy then scored in 70 and 75 minutes respectively for Falkirk to come back to lift the trophy.
Adam then joined First Division side St Mirren on loan for the 2005–06 season. During his spell in Paisley, he again appeared in the 2005 Scottish Challenge Cup Final, however this time he was on the winning side as St Mirren defeated Hamilton Academical 2–1. He was also part of the team that won the First Division title in May 2006. In total he made 37 appearances and scored nine goals for the "Buddies" during a very successful stint in Paisley.
After playing for Rangers during a July 2006 pre-season trip to South Africa, including scoring a hat-trick against a Jomo Select side, Adam began the 2006–07 season with the club, and he started in their first league match against Motherwell. He continued to be a regular for Rangers as the season progressed, and scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 UEFA Cup win over Livorno on 19 October. This was one of fourteen goals Adam scored that season, including strikes against Israeli sides Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa, as well as a goal in an end-of-season Old Firm match from a free-kick. On 16 April 2007, at the end of his first season in the first team, Adam was voted by Rangers fans as the club's Young Player of the Year at an award ceremony.
On 28 June 2007, it was announced that Adam had signed a new five-year contract with Rangers. Adam had scored his first UEFA Champions League goal on 19 September against VfB Stuttgart, and his second in the return fixture. Adam played against Panathinaikos and Werder Bremen in Rangers run to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final where he was an unused substitute as Rangers lost 2–0 to Zenit Saint Petersburg. That season Rangers also won the 2007–08 Scottish League Cup and the 2007–08 Scottish Cup, but Adam was suspended for the League Cup final against Dundee United and left out of the squad for the Scottish Cup final against Queen of the South.
On 2 February 2009, Adam signed on loan with English Championship club Blackpool until the end of the 2008–09 season, after caretaker manager Tony Parkes initially enquired about having Alan Gow loaned to the club again. Five days later, after an altercation with Richie Wellens, he was sent off on his debut for the Seasiders during a 3–2 defeat by Doncaster Rovers at Bloomfield Road.
On 25 February, after serving a three-match suspension, Adam scored twice, including a goal from just inside the halfway line, for the club's reserve team as they beat Accrington Stanley 4–2. Adam scored his first Football League goal for Blackpool in a 2–0 victory over Norwich City at Bloomfield Road on 7 March. Two days later he was named in the Football League's "Championship Team of the Week". His second goal for Blackpool came on 11 April in their 1–0 West Lancashire derby win over Preston North End at Deepdale. Tony Parkes publicly admitted he was keen to sign Adam permanently. He said, "I have spoken to our club secretary and we will be in touch with Rangers to see if we can do a deal for Charlie". At the end of the season, after two goals in 13 appearances, he returned to Rangers.
On 6 July 2009, Rangers confirmed that they had accepted a bid from Blackpool and that he was set to sign for the Seasiders the following day, subject to personal terms being agreed. The following day, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway confirmed a deal had been agreed with the Ibrox club, but stressed that talks with Adam would take place on 9 July, once Adam had spoken with Rangers manager Walter Smith. Four weeks later on 2 August, with Adam still a Rangers player and having been on their pre-season trip to Germany, Smith confirmed that the player was in talks with Blackpool, saying, "Adam is talking to Blackpool at the moment. The clubs have agreed a fee and it will be up to Charlie and his representative."
In August 2009 Adam signed a two-year contract with Blackpool with the option of a further year, in a club-record transfer fee of £500,000. His competitive debut as a permanent Blackpool player was in a 1–1 draw with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road later that month. His first goal came on 26 August in a 4–1 home win over Wigan Athletic in the League Cup.
In January 2010 he was named in the Press Association's Championship "Team of the Week", along with teammate Neal Eardley, following his performance two days prior, in a 3–2 home victory over Watford. That same month, Adam won the Championship Player of the Month award and was voted the PFA Championship Fans' Player of the Month for January 2010. In March, Adam scored in his 50th league appearance for Blackpool, a 2–0 win at Plymouth Argyle. Just under a month later, Adam was named in the PFA "Championship Team of the Year".
Blackpool qualified for that season's play-offs. Adam scored a match-winning penalty against Nottingham Forest in the semi-final first leg, and Blackpool won the tie on aggregate. In the play-off final, Adam scored a free-kick as Blackpool beat Cardiff City 3–2 at Wembley Stadium and gained promotion to the Premier League.
In the fourth week of the 2010–11 Premier League season, Adam was named in the official Team of the Week. He was named again in week seven, alongside teammate Luke Varney. In early December, a tribunal ruled in favour of Adam in a dispute over unpaid bonuses from the previous season. They found that Blackpool were required to pay the player £25,000 for successfully avoiding relegation to League One. The club had argued that the promotion bonus (which had been stipulated in Adam's contract) superseded the 'survival bonus.' The panel upheld Adam's complaint, but did not agree with his second argument that the failure to pay the amount constituted a breach of contract on the club's part. As a result, both parties were responsible for their own legal fees – leaving Adam with a very small net gain from the venture.