He moved to English side Burnley, making a couple of league appearances in the mid-1990s before returning to Scotland with Ross County in 1996.

Adams was transferred to Motherwell in a deal worth £200,000 in 1998 and spent six years at Fir Park, including a short loan spell with Ayr United.

Adams was one of a number of players affected by the club's administration problems, accepting a pay cut in April 2002.

[5] Adams failed to win any trophies during his time with Well, although he scored in the 2002–03 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat against Rangers.

[6] In 2004, Adams agreed a pre-contract move back to Aberdeen,[7] spending a year at Pittodrie before being transfer-listed[8] and leaving for Livingston in 2005.

The next year, Adams led Ross County to the 2010 Scottish Cup Final, notching upset victories over SPL sides Hibernian and Celtic.

[13] Adams left Ross County on 11 November 2010 to join Hibernian as assistant manager to Colin Calderwood.

[28] The winning streak continued, which resulted Adams receiving manager of the month awards for January[29] and February.

[3] In his first season in English football as a Manager he guided Plymouth Argyle FC to the League 2 Play Off Final at Wembley for the first time in 20 years, which they lost to AFC Wimbledon.

[37] On 7 November 2019, Adams became manager of Morecambe, replacing the long-serving Jim Bentley, who left to take over at AFC Fylde earlier in the month.

[40] On 31 May 2021, Adams led Morecambe to promotion to the third tier for the first time in their club's history, a penalty from Carlos Mendes Gomes in extra-time securing a 1–0 victory over Newport County.

[43][44] On 15 February 2022, Adams was sacked by the club with his last match in charge being a 1–0 home defeat to Exeter City that left his side in 12th position, eight points off the play-offs.

[47] On 20 November 2023, with Morecambe sitting ninth in League Two, Adams' release clause was met and he subsequently left the club to pursue an opportunity elsewhere.

[50] Adams received backlash in December following his post-match comments after losing at home to Dundee through a last-minute goal, in which he slammed the standard of Scottish football as being "shocking", calling the game "one of the worst games I've ever seen", and claiming his former team Morecambe were "miles better" than his Ross County squad, specifying that "I've left a side down in England's League Two that is miles better than this team.