“HE’S a fiery character who will give everything. He will completely commit to the club once he gets there.”

Derek Adams, who is expected to be unveiled as the next City manager, has been given a glowing endorsement from a player who knows him well.

Carl McHugh has a foot in both camps – two years at Valley Parade followed by another couple with Plymouth, where he encountered life under the Scot.

McHugh, an unsung member of Phil Parkinson’s “history makers” in 2012-2013, went back to Wembley for another League Two play-off final with Adams three seasons later.

Argyle were unsuccessful that day, beaten by Wimbledon, but would win automatic promotion the following season.

McHugh had moved on to Motherwell by then but played 44 games during Adams’ first year in charge in Devon – and believes he will be the ideal fit to steer City out of the basement division.

“I can only speak really highly of Derek Adams from my time with him,” he told the T&A.

“For me personally, he’s probably had as big an influence as any manager in my career.

“He moved me from centre half into defensive midfield and it gave me a different option, which has gone on to help me.

“He got us really fit and organised, we were such a strong unit. There was a real togetherness and he raised standards right throughout the club.

“Nothing was accepted other than winning and performing well.

“Plymouth was a big club in League Two as well at the time and there was a lot of expectation. But he set really high standards of professionalism.

“His recruitment was great. He used the Scottish market from players he knew well previously.

“He got Graham Carey, Jake Jervis, Greg Wylde and a few from Scotland.

“He likes players he has previously worked with and knows them character-wise. He also got in players that had experience of the league and that was important.

“He could see there was a good spine in the team and he changed things around. We’d been beaten in the play-off the year before so there was something to build from.

“But he definitely took us on to a different level, for sure.”

Plymouth, like City now, were a big fish in a small pond – the inevitably high public demand from a fanbase far larger than their League Two rivals would therefore be nothing new for Adams.

McHugh added: “I don’t think that will be any issue. He will be well capable of managing a club with the size of Bradford.

“He had the same expectation with the Plymouth supporters to get out of the division.

“His track record speaks for itself. He got Plymouth promoted and the job he has done at Morecambe has been outstanding from where he has taken them – and before that he was very successful in Scotland.

“He’s a similar type of manager to Phil Parkinson in a lot of ways.

“I personally think it would be a brilliant appointment for Bradford. He knows how to win games in that division.”

But McHugh does offer an early warning for the City squad about the rigorous regime that could await them.

“The pre-season was probably the toughest I’ve had,” he said. “I’m not sure the Bradford players will be looking forward to that.

“But it definitely put us in good stead. We were so well drilled with the training and everyone on the pitch knew exactly what their jobs were.

“We hit the ground running and were flying at the start of the season.

“We had a few injuries towards the end and tailed off a little bit. But the following season, after I had left, they went up in second behind Portsmouth.

“They bounced back from the disappointment of losing the play-off final. There was a large changeover in players again, but the recruitment was still good and he got them promoted at the second attempt of asking.”

Adams, who yesterday steered Morecambe to the League Two play-off final to face Michael Flynn's Newport, had wanted to keep McHugh at Home Park when the Irishman's contract expired. 

McHugh, though, opted for a move to Scotland instead where he spent three seasons at Motherwell.

But the last two years have seen him switch to a complete change of scenery – playing in India for ATK Mohun Bagan, a team co-owned by former cricketer Sourav Ganguly.

McHugh added: “It’s been a brilliant experience and I’ve signed a new contract to stay on.

“I got to that stage after three years at Motherwell where this opportunity came up and I just wanted something different. It’s worked out great so far.

“The team is in Kolkata but this year, because of Covid, it was all played off in a bio-bubble in Goa. That was a really nice place to be based."