AT FIRST glance Tony Adams's confession of alcohol addiction was the last thing Arsenal needed right now. Yet if anything is going to help the club pull themselves together it could be this.

Adams's admission came at the end of a week during which Arsenal had lost the home leg of a UEFA Cup tie 3-2 to Borussia Monchengladbach followed by the resignation of their caretaker manager, Stewart Houston. An injury to Dennis Bergkamp, their £7.5 million Dutch striker, has added to the latest crisis.

This evening Arsenal will face Sheffield Wednesday in front of a Highbury crowd already critical at the board's decision to dismiss Bruce Rioch, George Graham's successor as manager, before the season started. By then the club should know when the next incumbent, the Frenchman Arsene Wenger, is due to arrive from Japan.

Wenger is expected to take over before the end of the month. It will not be a moment too soon. Unless somebody else leaves today Pat Rice will be in charge of the team tonight, but the tradition of Arsenal's interests being best served by old Arsenal players has worn mighty thin. An experienced outsider is badly needed to give the club a fresh of perspectives.

So where does Adams come in? Well for a start the captain's decision on Friday to explain his alcoholism to the rest of the team and ask for their support was probably the most honest thing that has occurred at Arsenal for some time.

Given Adams's fraught personal life that took courage. His wife, who lost a baby, has a drug problem and the marriage has broken up. Adams himself has had further surgery on the damaged knee which has prevented him playing for Arsenal since mid January.

His determination to lead England into the European Championship may well have hindered his long term recovery. And it turns out that England's defeat by Germany on penalties in the Euro 96 semi finals pre empted the drinking session which ended Adams's five months on the wagon.

Support for the player has come from all quarters from Arsenal, from the Football Association and, crucially, from Wenger. Certainly Adams, 30 next month, is entitled to command more sympathy now than he did when he was jailed for a drink driving offence in December 1990.

Although the list of drink related incidents did not stop there - three years ago he fell down a flight of steps and suffered a gash above an eye that needed 29 stitches - the way Adams returned from his prison sentence to lead Arsenal to more honours and eventually captain his country earned him a lot of respect.

Whatever he drank, moreover, did not affect his performances on the field. That is the essential difference between Adams's case and Paul Merson's tearful confession of alcohol and gambling addictions, with a brief dabbling in drugs, two years ago.

At the same time, Merson owed much to the sort of support Adams is receiving now and the success of his recovery suggests that the knee, rather than the elbow, will be the greater threat to the Arsenal captain's playing career. His return cannot come too soon, for the team is in more urgent need than ever of his leadership on the field.

Wenger comes from the Continental school of management which demands rather more self discipline from players than the bacchanalian habits with which Arsenal have been associated for a number of years. Having two alcoholics in a team may not be the ideal situation for a new manager but at least Adams and Merson have come to terms with their problems.