Campbell on Hughton, Duff and football's 'game-changer'

Sol Campbell, a wardrobe of a man, glides into one of the meeting rooms in the Dublin's Westbury Hotel, cheerful and chilled.

He's over for Heineken 0.0's 'To The Sports That Bring Us Together' campaign, and will soon nip down to the River Bar beside O'Connell Bridge to watch Arsenal take on Real Madrid with a room full of Gunners supporters.

Campbell takes up someone's offer of a cappuccino. He's a little concerned that a boisterous Bernabeu might rattle Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, but those worries will melt away a few hours later when his old club outfights and outclasses the Spaniards to reach the Champions League semi-finals.

Arsenal might yet atone for the 2006 decider which they lost to Barcelona; when Jens Lehmann saw red and Campbell put the ten men ahead, only for Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Belletti to shatter their dreams.

Sol Campbell in action against Portugal's Nuno Gomes at Euro 2004

Regrets? He's had a few, but they sit lightly on Campbell's broad shoulders.

This is a man who signed a lucrative five-year deal with League Two Notts County in 2010 and then asked to have his contract cancelled having played just one game.

In his 2014 biography, Campbell accused the English FA of being "institutionally racist", writing: "I believe if I was white I would've been England captain for more than 10 years."

Back in 2015, he declared his intention to run for the Mayor of London as a Conservative Party representative (he failed to make the shortlist).

Sol Campbell is nothing if not interesting and as he relaxes into the conversation, he offers a glimpse into a psyche that's made him such an intriguing, and at times divisive, figure.

"There's a lot of players who've played for their countries who feel more comfortable outside of their country. It's not unique to me," he says when asked about an assertion he made years ago that he gets more respect outside of England.

"The mixture is being confident but being also respectful. There is that balance and I don't understand why you can't be confident but at the same time you're humble, you're balanced, obviously you stick up for yourself... and you're balanced with the arguments. I don't get what the problem is with being confident from an early age. I don't understand."

"There's another avenue, or several avenues, to go down to get your message out there."

Campbell's unabashed self confidence, and ruthless career choices, have rubbed some people up the wrong way over the years. Just imagine if his move from Tottenham to Arsenal came in the modern era; the bile that would have been pumped through the worst sewers of social media.

Still, he likes that footballers have an opportunity to control their own narratives these days.

"It's a lot better now," he claims. "When I started, players around me were like, 'why are you doing this, why are you doing that? Just stick to football'.

"In my time people were really restrictive with their mentality and just held you in a time capsule. You weren't allowed to think outside the box - unless you were thinking outside the box on the football field. You couldn't think outside the box with your lifestyle.

"Now it's more balanced. You don't need to go to the papers to get your story out. That's a massive game-changer in sport, and in life. People still talk to the papers, it's just balance now. There's another avenue, or several avenues, to go down to get your message out there. That's a big game-changer. That wasn't around when I was playing. You had one narrative and if someone didn't like you they would write a certain angle about you and that was it. That was it!"

"What a lovely man, very knowledgeable about football, a fantastic coach and manager."

Campbell has given up on trying to forge a career in management. He had spells at Macclesfield Town and Southend United but hasn't been in a dugout since 2020. Frustrated by a lack of opportunities, he's focusing on other things: he has a podcast series with former players coming out next year ("there more like doccy films"), and says he's developing online coaching tools to help budding footballers.

When he did try to dip his toe into the waters of management, an old friend and mentor was particularly supportive: Chris Hughton.

"He was a legend of Ireland, and also a legend at Tottenham Hotspur as well," Campbell adds.

"He was one of the assistant coaches when I was (at Spurs), really working hard. Nothing is too much for him. He's got a lovely family, he is a gentleman and a football man as well. He cares about football. That's the beautiful thing for me, he cares about football.

"But he helped me in lots of things, just being there, being around the club. Little talks around the training ground, that kind of stuff. He'd do anything for the players.

"What a lovely man, very knowledgeable about football, a fantastic coach and manager. He's a top man.

"I think for me, he's always there to give you that little helping hand, and have a conversation on the phone over the years when I was really looking at management roles. He's a great man, a great gentleman, fantastic player, great coach, manager, a family man... he's a great guy. I don't think many people will say a bad word against him.

"And he works incredibly hard. So hard."

Damien Duff has made a huge impact at Shelbourne

Campbell, alas, is not really tuned into what's happening in the League of Ireland, but he is aware of the impact Damien Duff has made at Shelbourne. A Premier League title-winning star dropping down to a lower level of the game to try and learn his trade? Campbell can relate.

"I think when you're in that scenario you've got a target on your back, because you drop down and people are kind of of waiting for things to muck up," he reflects.

"And also, when people don't really know you in the club they're wondering, why have you dropped down here? It takes a while for people in the club to actually see that you care about football.

"That's the thing, once you start to make them see that you care about football, it doesn't matter the level you drop to. You just want to be on this progression, you want to help the club while you're there, you want to do the best job possible... and then I think the club, the people around the club, the fans start to see what kind of human being you are.

"That's what it's all about in the beginning, to build a bridge, make friends and show people you want to work as hard as the next person in the club."

Watch/listen to the full interview with Sol Campbell on Tuesday's RTÉ Soccer Podcast on YouTube, iTunes and Spotify

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