Sol Campbell ready to turn back on football dream after painful admission
It's been over three years since his last job in management and Arsenal and England legend Sol Campbell is close to giving up.
The 49-year-old's first job in management came at Macclesfield Town in 2018, joining the club in November when they were bottom of League Two and five points adrift of safety. Seven wins and ten draws in 26 games was enough to help Macclesfield avoid relegation, with a 1-1 draw against Cambridge United on the final day securing their place in the division for the following season.
But as Campbell geared up for his first full season in professional football management, cracks at the financially troubled club became too big to ignore. And in August, just three games into the 2019/20 campaign, Campbell left the fourth-tier side by mutual consent and claimed that he was owed £182,000.
"It did work out. I just didn't get paid!" Campbell told Mirror Sport at the Web Summit in Lisbon. "I did a wonderful job, a stellar job, under extreme pressure with no budget. And the players were incredible, they were amazing. Got some really good loans in January and it made a difference.
"Players would come in and get sold later on [to] make money for the chairman. And we still survived, we played really good football and got some big results as well - just didn't get paid and where was I going?"
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He added: "And I shouldn't have [stayed without pay]. Especially when you do the job, everyone's done really well, and the club stays up. You can't keep on going on and not get paid. Would my peers eight months, nine months not get paid? No! So, why should I?"
Just over two months later, Campbell was back and raring to go again. He landed the job at Southend United, however, he encountered similar problems to that he had faced at Macclesfield months prior. A transfer embargo also prevented Campbell from dipping into the transfer market, something that proved successful in his previous post, with the club sitting second from bottom in League One and 16 points from safety.
The former Arsenal and England defender's first job came at Macclesfield (Getty)The Covid-19 pandemic also brought the season to a grinding halt and the final League One table was determined by a points-per-game formula, which confirmed the club's relegation. Campbell then departed Southend as he did not want to be a financial burden on a club already strapped for cash.
"That was a difficult one because, in the end, I couldn't get players in," Campbell said on his time at Southend. "There was an embargo that I didn't know of. And if the embargo wasn't there, maybe I could've got some players in. But then, the pandemic kicked in, lockdown, it's done, finished. I didn't want to keep on being the manager of the club and drawing a wage, so I said I'd rather just exit this. And it took forever for the league to get back in. Yes, we still had eight or nine games to go. You never know, it's not impossible to stay up."
Over three years have now passed since Campbell's last full-time managerial position in football and the ex-Arsenal and England defender admits he is close to calling it quits. Frustrated by the lack of opportunities, he has had to take a step back to avoid disowning the sport he loves.
Sol Campbell left Macclesfield by mutual consent in 2019 and claimed he was owed £182,000 (Getty)"I think managing now, for me, is going to be difficult now because you get to the stage that you can keep on trying to enter this beautiful sport, that I love, but I have to be honest," he reflected. "You've got to say to yourself, how many times can you knock on the door without someone opening the door to allow you to even have an interview? It's your prerogative if you don't want to give me an interview but someone has to give me an interview sooner or later.
"For me, now, I've almost retracted myself before I completely disown the sport. I've had to move myself back - I love the sport, I love football, I can give so much to football. It's their prerogative if they want to talk to me, allow me to interview, and allow me to speak about my philosophy. If that's not the case, and they don't want to know, I can't force people to do that. I have to mould my own career out of football."
Some of Campbell's former England teammates such as Wayne Rooney and Phil Neville have been given opportunities to further their managerial careers despite not reaching expectations at previously-held posts. Rooney's DC United failed to make the MLS playoffs in over a year in charge and is now in the Championship with Birmingham City, while Neville has landed at Portland Timbers after being sacked by Inter Miami just weeks before Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets' blockbuster arrivals in the Sunshine State.
The lack of options has Sol Campbell on the brink of giving up on management (Getty)Campbell says it's on the decision-makers, the media, and fans, to "open up" and give managers who haven't had repeated opportunities a chance at stability to prove themselves.
"I think for me, patience is also understanding that it's not all about having image or having 5 million people following you," he said. "And I'm not taking [anything away from] Wazza [Wayne Rooney] or Phil [Neville] - however they got the opportunity, they got the opportunity, that's fine. Good luck to them and how they progress from there. The main thing for me is, that I want the people who are deciding, the media as well they can swing people, fans - open up a little bit."
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He added: "Give someone a break in the sense that you never know. Unless you've had four or five opportunities and you've had a good budget, and you've had good players there, and you've had a couple of years and it still doesn't work and you've had two, three goes at that, maybe four goes at that - that's not happened to me.
"Good budget, stable team, stable people around, understanding hierarchy, philosophy, how they carry on as a football club - I haven't had that. I've never had that - I've had that in my life but I've not had that at a football club yet. I've played for football clubs that have great stability but managing, I haven't."
Sol Campbell wants a role that helps him nurture the next generation of footballers (Getty)Campbell still remains passionate about working in football and is open to other roles. preferably one that helps bring through the next generation of footballers.
"I think, for me, director of sport, sporting director, I think I can do that," he declared. "I have good judgment on characters, I like doing great deals, I'm hard on deals, I like getting bang for my buck as well, and I'm conscious of spending other people's money.
"For me, you want the right environment. That's what I create. Being in the right environment with people who have the best intentions and allow you to grow, allow you to have a safe environment to do your stuff - there's enough pressure on the pitch. I want to help out, impart my knowledge for the next generation, and help create some become excellent footballers and create a great environment."
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