Sol Campbell
Page 31
Someone in the dressing room (he doesn’t remember who) told him afterwards that reporters had strung the words together of what the Spurs supporters were shouting. It was different this time, something more wounding than they had heard before. Be warned, a couple of team-mates said, you are going to be asked about it. And when he heard what was being sung, he thought at first, What is all this? Why is it still going on?
At home that night, he started to digest what had happened hours earlier. What goes through these people’s minds? He felt spat at. Fathers standing next to their sons, some as young as pre-teens, encouraging them to join in. Ignorance, insecurity or bigotry? Or all three? Isn’t it time to move on? Am I still the villain in their lives? Who do they think I am? It doesn’t matter how I may feel; appear to feel. What I may think; appear to think. What pain my friends and family are suffering; appear to be suffering.
The silence in his house made the chanting from earlier even more palpable. He needed space in which to be able to address his thoughts, prepare himself for unexpected developments, some of which might have serious consequences for those who probably, at that moment, were just living their own ordinary lives, unaware that they would soon be marked in some degree forever. He could hear them. He could hear every word now. When he was playing he caught the odd line but he was too focused, buzzing from adrenalin, to hear everything. Now he could debate what to do. The afternoon had given him the chance to bring out those figurative skeletons from the cupboard. Yes, put them in the middle of the stage of our fear, and see them for what they are: pitiful piles of dried bones! This malice had been tracking him for far too long, and in truth, he had dealt with it internally when he played and came face to face with it, but not on the outside. I’m older now, he thinks. It’s time to have my voice heard. Future players shouldn’t have to take this anymore.
Sol rang Sky Andrew and asked him if he could get on BBC Radio 4. ‘I’ve had enough of this. I want to talk. I’m tired of the FA. I’m tired of them ignoring the racism and homophobia in the stadiums. They have done nothing. Nothing. It needs to be dealt with; it’s got to stop.’
In his interview he said, ‘We can all take the booing or light banter, but when it gets to the realms of verbal abuse, it’s a bridge too far. This is a human rights situation, where professional sportsmen want to do their job professionally and people are abusing them verbally. If this happened on the street, you’d be arrested.’ Within hours the story grew. The police received an official complaint and an investigation was launched. The club and manager were wholly supportive. ‘This kind of thing has no place in football, no place in life,’ said Spurs manager Harry Redknapp. ‘Someone has got to do something about it, somebody has got to make a stand, and if Sol wants to do that, we are right behind him.’
Aside from that 2008 game at White Hart Lane, Sol has had to deal with racist and then homophobic chants throughout his career but two incidents stand out, even today, that make him shiver at the memory. ‘I was playing for Tottenham against Sunderland at Roker Park, and every time I picked up the ball or took a throw-in, the monkey chants were deafening, overwhelming. I had never heard anything like that noise before. I looked at Gary Bennett, a black player who was the Sunderland captain at the time and thought, how can you play in an atmosphere like this? I didn’t understand it.’
In another game, again when he was playing for and captaining Tottenham, he laments a moment in his life, when he felt ashamed to be playing football. He kept a bottle of water inside his goalmouth, so he could grab a quick drink whenever he was thirsty. Against Northampton in a third round League Cup tie, there was a lull in the game and Sol walked over to the goalmouth to take a drink. As he swigged his water, what must have been a thousand home supporters standing behind the goal started making monkey chants, within spitting distance from where Sol was standing. Sol stood motionless, immobilised by a mass of contorted faces making racist noises.
‘That’s enough, that’s enough!’ he shouts but the chants get louder and the faces get more ugly, so ugly they turn into foul beasts with ridges and creases. Until he catches sight of one face. He notices it because it is the only face that looks about nervously, with an expression that looks different to all the others. A woman in her thirties has shame marked on her forehead, her eyes pleading an apology. Her delicate features, so feminine in this crowd of bigots, snap him out of his stupor. He calmly puts the bottle of water down and continues his game. Is one’s turmoil truly less if expressed? Sol doesn’t show any emotion. Spurs won the game 3-1 and Sol scored. The date was 27 October 1999, seven months after Spurs had won the League Cup.
Three weeks later, he received a handwritten letter in blue ink from that same woman, expressing her sorrow, her embarrassment. ‘Dear Sol, I am the woman who you saw at Northampton last month and I was appalled by the behaviour of people standing beside me and I am writing to apologise…’
As for the Portsmouth-Tottenham game, a total of eleven fans of all ages were arrested and four men pleaded guilty to racist and homophobic chanting in January 2009. They received a three-year football banning order and a fine.
Another chapter of his abuse had closed.
• • •
Sulzeer Jeremiah ‘Sol’ Campbell. Is there a finer English footballer over the last fifty years who has been eyed so suspiciously? Has his silence, or lack of understanding for the average football fan, heightened the intense speculation about everything that goes on in his life? Does his desire for solitude, together with his innate shyness, in such contrast to his role as a professional footballer, make him even more difficult to fathom? Are the rumours and suppositions that followed each chapter of his career unjust? Remember, conspiracies in the football world extend to every corner of the globe. Our curiosity for the famous will not die. Perhaps the curious maintain it long after the final whistle.
• • •
SULZEER JEREMIAH ‘SOL’ CAMPBELL
Born: 18 September 1974
Birthplace: Plaistow, East London
Height: 6ft 2in
Playing weight: 13st 8lb–14st 2lb
Playing strengths: Powerful frame, athleticism, quick feet, resolute attitude
CLUB CAREER
Tottenham 1992-2001
Appearances: 315 (11 as sub)
Goals: 15
Honours: Worthington (League) Cup 1998-99
Managers played under: Doug Livermore-Ray Clemence (joint), Ossie Ardiles, Gerry Francis, Christian Gross, George Graham, Glenn Hoddle
Central defensive partners: Gary Mabbutt, Colin Calderwood, Ramon Vega, Chris Perry
Arsenal 2001-2006
Appearances: 197 (2 as sub)
Goals: 11
Honours: Premier League title 2001-02, 2003-04; FA Cup 2001-02, 2004-05; Community Shield 2002-03
Manager played under: Arsene Wenger
Central defensive partners: Tony Adams, Martin Keown, Kolo Toure
Portsmouth 2006-2009
Appearances: 111
Goals: 2
Honours: FA Cup 2007-08
Managers played under: Harry Redknapp, Tony Adams, Paul Hart
Central defensive partners: Linvoy Primus, Sylvain Distin
Notts County 2009
Appearances: 1
Manager played under: Ian McParland
Arsenal 2010
Appearances: 14 (1 as sub)
Goals: 1
Manager played under: Arsene Wenger
Newcastle 2010-11
Appearances: 8 (3 as sub)
Managers played under: Chris Hughton, Alan Pardew
ENGLAND CAREER
England Under-18
European Championship winner 1993
England Under-21, 1994-96
Appearances: 11
Goals: 2
England B, 1994 and 2006
Appearances: 2
England 1996-2007
Appearances: 73 (6 as sub)
With: Tottenham 40, Arsenal 29, Portsmouth 4
<
br /> Record: W40, D19, L14 (Lost 3 drawn games in penalty shoot-outs)
Goals: 1
Captain: 3 times (2 under Glenn Hoddle, 1 under Sven-Goran Eriksson)
Other managers played under: Terry Venables, Kevin Keegan, Steve McClaren
Central defensive partners: Tony Adams, Gareth Southgate, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry
PLAYING CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
1992
September: After being part educated at the FA School of
Excellence at Lilleshall, and having a brief association with West Ham United, Campbell signs professional forms for Tottenham as a central midfield player.
December: Makes his debut, aged 18, as a 63rd minute substitute and scores in a 2-1 defeat by Chelsea at White Hart Lane – his only appearance in the senior team that season.
1993
July: Wins the European Under-18 Championship with England, who beat the defending champions Turkey 1-0 in the final with a penalty by Tottenham club-mate Darren Caskey at the City Ground, Nottingham.
August: Plays his first full match for the club on the opening day of the new season – a 1-0 away win over Newcastle.
1994
March: Makes his first appearance for the England Under-21 side in a 1-0 win over Denmark in a friendly international at Griffin Park, Brentford.
May: Ends his first full campaign at Tottenham with 27 full appearances, many of them at full-back, and a further seven as a sub.
June: Scores his first goal for the Under-21 team in a 2-1 win over
Belgium in the Toulon Tournament in Berre L’Etang, France.
1995
May: At the end of a season in which Campbell continues to cement his place in the side, Tottenham finish seventh in the Premier League – the highest position during his time at the club.
1996
May: Wins his first England senior cap as a 65th minute substitute for Paul Ince in a 3-0 win over Hungary in a friendly international at Wembley.
June: Included in Terry Venables’s squad for Euro 2006 in England as defensive cover for Tony Adams and Gareth Southgate. Comes off the bench in the 85th minute of the 2-0 win over Scotland at Wembley to replace Jamie Redknapp.
August: With Gary Mabbutt nearing retirement, Campbell becomes the central defensive cornerstone of Tottenham’s defence.
November: Makes his first England start in a 2-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Georgia in Tbilisi.
1997
May: Completes an ever-present season for Spurs, playing in all their 38 Premier League matches.
1998
May: Aged 23 years and 248 days, he becomes the youngest England captain since Bobby Moore. England lose 4-3 on penalties after a goalless draw against Belgium in the King Hassan International Cup competition in Casablanca.
June: Starts all four England matches at the World Cup finals in France. In their second round game against Argentina in St Etienne, with the score 2-2 after Michael Owen’s sensational goal and David Beckham’s red card, Campbell has a goal disallowed for a foul by Alan Shearer and England lose 4-3 on penalties.
1999
March: Captains Spurs to a 1-0 victory over Leicester City in the Worthington (League) Cup final at Wembley. It is Campbell’s one major trophy with the club.
May: Finishes the season as the club’s third highest scorer with six goals behind Steffen Iversen (9) and Chris Armstrong (8). Also scores twice in the League Cup in the most prolific campaign of his career. Named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
2000
June: Starts all three matches at Euro 2000 in Belgium and Holland in which England fail to qualify
from their group after losing 3-2 to Romania in Charleroi.
2001
April: Limps out of his final match for Tottenham, a 2-1 defeat by Arsenal in an FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford, with an ankle injury.
July: Campbell makes a controversial move to Arsenal – Spurs’ biggest rivals – on a Bosman free transfer.
December: Scores his first goal for Arsenal in a 2-1 victory over Chelsea at Highbury on Boxing Day.
2002
May: Finishes his first season with a double success as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-0 in the FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium, then claim the Premier League title, seven points clear of Liverpool.
June: Scores his first – and only – England senior goal with a header from David Beckham’s corner in their opening match of the World Cup Finals against Sweden (1-1) in Saitama, Japan. Campbell starts all five games and is the only England player named in FIFA’s ‘All Star’ squad at the tournament. England lose 2-1 to Brazil in the quarter-finals.
August: More silverware as Arsenal defeat Liverpool 1-0 in the FA Community Shield at the Millennium Stadium.
2003
May: Banned for four matches after being sent off against Manchester United and misses the FA Cup final win over Southampton. Also ruled out of the season’s run-in when Arsenal finish five points behind champions United. Included in the Premier League Team of the Year.
2004
April: Campbell and Arsenal make sure of regaining the title in a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane – in front of the Spurs fans who criticised his move from their club.
May: Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ complete their 38-match programme without losing a game. With Campbell forming a rock-solid central defensive partnership alongside Kolo Touré, Arsenal concede just 26 goals and Campbell is named again in the Premier League’s Team of the Year.
June: Has a goal disallowed for a foul by John Terry with the score 1-1 in England’s Euro 2004 quarter-final against Portugal in Lisbon, which ends with a 2-2 scoreline and a 6-5 defeat on penalties. Starts all four of England’s games of the tournament in Portugal and is named in UEFA’s ‘All Star’ squad, together with Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney.
October: Arsenal concede a controversial penalty when Wayne Rooney falls over Campbell’s outstretched leg, Ruud van Nistelrooy converts it and their 49-match unbeaten Premier League run is ended in a 2-0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford.
2005
May: Campbell collects another FA Cup winner’s medal as an unused substitute at the Millennium Stadium, where a goalless draw is followed by a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win against Manchester United.
2006
May: Heads in Thierry Henry’s free-kick to give Arsenal the lead in the Champions League final against Barcelona in Paris. But goalkeeper Jens Lehmann is sent off and they lose 2-1. It proves to be his final game for the club.
June: Campbell is third choice behind Rio Ferdinand and John Terry at the World Cup finals in Germany, but becomes the only England player to feature in six successive major tournaments when replacing Ferdinand after 56 minutes of the final group game against Sweden (2-2) in Cologne. It’s his only appearance at the tournament in which England lose 3-1 on penalties to Portugal after a goalless game in which Wayne Rooney is sent off.
August: Seeking a ‘fresh challenge,’ he joins Portsmouth under manager Harry Redknapp.
December: Scores his first goal for his new club in a 3-1 victory over Sheffield United at Fratton Park.
2007
May: Leads Portsmouth into the top half of the Premier League and almost into the UEFA Cup.
November: Wins his 73rd and final England cap in a 3-2 defeat by Croatia at Wembley which results in the team’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008.
2008
May: Captains Portsmouth to a 1-0 victory over Cardiff City in the FA Cup final at Wembley – the club’s first triumph in the competition for 69 years.
2009
August: After leaving Portsmouth at the end of his contract, Campbell joins Notts County, where former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is director of football.
September: After playing one match for the League Two club, a 2-1 defeat at Morecambe, Campbell has his contract cancelled by ‘mutual consent.’
2010
January: Returns to Arsenal on
a short-term deal after training with the squad and scores against Porto in a 2-1 defeat in the first leg of the Champions League’s first knock-out round.
July: Joins Newcastle on a one-year contract, his final club in a career in which none of his moves cost a penny in transfer fees.
October: Comes off the bench in a 2-1 defeat by Manchester City to maintain his record of playing in every Premier League season since its inception in 1992.
2011
March: Makes his last appearance as a player in Newcastle’s 4-0 defeat at Stoke in which he is substituted after 66 minutes.
May: Released by Newcastle manager Alan Pardew.
2012
May: Brings down the curtain on a distinguished career by officially announcing his retirement.
Acknowledgements
There are a number of people I want to thank. First and foremost, Sol Campbell, for his honesty, openness and resolve to put his life out in the public arena. To those who granted me interviews during the course of writing this book. My deep gratitude goes to Michael James Mainwaring for his words, quotes and guidance. To Michele for the table, chair, coffee and water every morning, from the first to the last day of summer 2013. To all those who devoted many hours in producing this book, thank you. And last but certainly not least, to my publisher, I am truly grateful.