Just one moment can be enough to leave the lasting memory of a Premier League footballer, regardless of all else achieved in the game. For Sol Campbell, one of the finest centre-backs of the Premier League era, it came in July 2001.
The assembled press had gathered for what was anticipated to be the unveiling of Richard Wright at Arsenal, a talented goalkeeper brought in to provide competition and cover for the veteran David Seaman.
Instead, what followed was the most shocking transfer of the Premier League era. In walked Campbell, the club captain of the Gunners’ fiercest rivals, and in an instant the history of the north London divide was changed forevermore.
Before that immortal moment came Campbell’s rise from humble beginnings. Born in Plaistow, London, to Jamaican parents, football became a form of expression for Campbell in childhood. He sought identity through sport, in a crowded household in which he counted eight brothers as the youngest of a dozen children.
He joined the academy system at Tottenham as a teenager, following a short spell at West Ham. Such was his prodigious talent, he was inducted into the excellence programme at Lilleshall alongside a group of the most gifted prospects in English football.
Campbell’s debut for Spurs came during the Premier League’s inaugural season, in which he scored during a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea. It was his sole appearance of the campaign however, before breaking into the side on a regular basis the following season.
A raw blend of athleticism, power and positional sense, it soon became apparent that Spurs had a top talent in their ranks. Despite the north Londoners’ mixed fortunes in the Premier League, Campbell continued to grow in stature and was named as club captain in the late nineties.
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Having impressed for England at the 1998 World Cup, Campbell captained Spurs to League Cup success during the 1998–99 season, becoming the first black captain to lift a major trophy at Wembley. Rather than a springboard to future success however, Spurs failed to build and after a succession of mid-table finishes Campbell’s future began to dominate the headlines.
Approaching the end of his deal, there were offers on the table from Europe’s elite. Barcelona, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich all tabled lucrative proposals, but the centre-back made a decision that stunned Spurs.
In the shadows, Arsenal had sold the Spurs stalwart a dream. After three consecutive runners-up finishes to Manchester United, Campbell had been identified as a statement signing. A natural leader and one of the Premier League’s best defenders, he was an arrival of character and quality that could take the Gunners up a level.
Tottenham were left with nothing but memories and the bitter sting of betrayal. Their captain, a colossal presence in the side, had defected for their fiercest rivals.
Campbell’s first return to Spurs came in November and White Hart Lane was a white-hot cauldron of hate. Judas banners filled the ground, while the barbs spat venomously from the stands were rather more expletive-filled and derogatory.
“Football-wise, the crowd got me wired,” Campbell recalled to FourFourTwo. “I don’t think many in the game have played in one with that type of atmosphere, no chance. I felt on a different level – I was alive, it was an incredible kind of feeling.
“But on an emotional level, it was disgusting. Yes, I knew how people would react but that level was just…there were biblical kinds of flags contradicting each other… there were drapes everywhere… all those balloons. And the faces! It was like people wanted to kill me with their expressions.”
Such was the extent of the treatment from the furious fans, former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger later admitted he would have re-considered signing Campbell with the benefit of hindsight.
“I knew that it would cause heated debates in London, but I was truly convinced by the player,” Wenger told 11 Freunde.
“I thought he was capable of facing the adversity. For me, it was easy because everybody was conscious that I had signed a great player. But for him, it was more complicated. The situation was really stressful for Sol and he told me afterwards how severe it became.
“He couldn’t go to certain places for dinner or walk freely in London because of the anger of the Tottenham fans. In hindsight, I’m not sure if I would sign him again bearing in mind the difficulties he faced.”
If Campbell faced challenges away from the pitch, he showed no signs of struggle on it. His first season saw Arsenal win a domestic double, with the controversial signing superb alongside Martin Keown at centre-back.
211 games
12 goals
3 FA Cups
2 @PremierLeague titles
And 1 Double@SolManOfficial pic.twitter.com/uDFscB0HGU
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 18, 2019
Tony Adams’s retirement at the end of that campaign saw Campbell step in as a tailor-made replacement for the club captain, an authoritative and athletic successor as Arsenal’s defensive rock.
An FA Cup followed in his second season, before a campaign in which the Gunners did the unthinkable. Wenger’s side completed a 38-game season without defeat to be crowned champions, ensuring footballing immortality as Premier League Invincibles.
Campbell was the hulking heart of the champion’s defence. Monstrous in the air and deceptively quick across the ground, his partnership with Kolo Toure was the centre-piece of a brilliant backline that brought the best from one another.
That title was clinched with a draw at White Hart Lane, the ultimate insult to the Spurs supporters who once cherished Campbell. In the colours of the club’s fiercest foe, he celebrated as a champion on the same pitch he used to take to as Spurs captain.
Campbell added another FA Cup to his increasing collection, before scoring as Arsenal missed out on European success with defeat in the 2006 Champions League final. For all the controversy surrounding his cross-capital move, the continued silverware was sweet justification.
“I was confident in my own ability and generally had players around me in my time with Arsenal who believed we could win any battle against a striker, however good he might have been,” Campbell said, as per Planet Football.
“We had so many leaders in our team. I see myself as a leader, Patrick Vieira was, Dennis Bergkamp, Lauren, Martin Keown, Robert Pires, Ray Parlour…you can keep on going.
“You can be elegant, but you also need to be tough. Get your head in where it hurts, stick the odd tackle in where it is needed and then let your ability come out.”
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Campbell made 197 appearances across five seasons with the Gunners, where he won two league titles and the FA Cup on three occasions. He signed for Portsmouth on a free transfer in 2006, where he captained the South Coast club to their first major trophy since 1950 with a fourth FA Cup of his club career.
A bizarre one-game spell with fourth-tier Notts Country was followed by a brief return to Arsenal, before his club career eventually concluded with a season at Newcastle that resulted in just eight appearances.
At international level, Campbell was a fulcrum of the England side. He won 73 caps across a career with the Three Lions that spanned over a decade, no mean feat during an era in which Tony Adams, Gareth Southgate, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ledley King and Jamie Carragher all counted among his competitors for a place in the side.
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Twice he suffered major tournament agony with ‘winners’ disallowed before eventual penalty shootout exits to Argentina (World Cup ’98) and Portugal (Euro 2004). It was the fine margins which contributed to the failure of England’s Golden Generation to make an impression on a major finals.
Just two centre-backs have ever made more Premier League appearances than Campbell, who holds the divisional record for the longest unbeaten run by a player, going 56 matches without defeat between November 2002 and October 2004.
Campbell’s transfer across north London remains unforgettable and strengthened the spine of an Arsenal side who became arguably the Premier League’s greatest. A ferocious presence at centre-back, he severed ties at Tottenham to become an Arsenal icon.
Read – Midfield Generals: Patrick Vieira – A Gunners great
Read Also – Iconic Duos: Campbell and Toure, Arsenal’s immovable Turbo Trains
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The post Defensive Rocks: Sol Campbell – The immovable Invincible first appeared on The Football Faithful.This post first appeared on Surest Football Prediction Sites In The World 2022, please read the originial post: here
