McAdam played for non-league Stapenhill Working Men's Club after being on the books of Aston Villa as an amateur.
[1] He would be recruited by Leeds United manager Frank Buckley in 1948 as he strove to rebuild the team post-war.
[3] McAdam would start strongly, playing 20 consecutive games for Leeds United before suffering a cartilage injury in a match against Blackburn Rovers on 29 January 1949 which ruled him out of the rest of the 1948–49 season.
[1] However post-injury, he lost his first team place and moved to Wrexham in 1950, where he spent a season and made 10 appearances.
[3] McAdam died on 18 April 2017 at the age of 94 after years spent in a nursing home.