Kevin Campbell

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Kevin Campbell
Personnel
Surname Kevin Joseph Campbell
birthday 4th February 1970
place of birth Lambeth , London ,  England
size 188 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
1985-1988 Arsenal FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1988-1995 Arsenal FC 166 (46)
1989 →  Leyton Orient  (loan) 16 0(9)
1989 →  Leicester City  (loan) 11 0(5)
1995-1998 Nottingham Forest 80 (32)
1998-1999 Trabzonspor 17 0(5)
1999 →  Everton FC  (loan) 8 0(9)
1999-2005 Everton FC 137 (36)
2005-2006 West Bromwich Albion 45 0(6)
2006-2007 Cardiff City 19 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1990-1992 England U-21 4 0(1)
1991 England B 1 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Kevin Joseph Campbell (born February 4, 1970 in Lambeth , London ) is a former English football player . As a muscular, robust, headed and fast forward striker , he played in the top English division for Arsenal FC , Nottingham Forest , Everton FC and West Bromwich Albion . His greatest successes with Arsenal were winning the English championship in 1991 , two years later the "double" from the FA Cup and League Cup and in 1994 the title in the European Cup Winners' Cup .

Athletic career

Arsenal FC (1988–1995)

Kevin Campbell started his professional career at Arsenal , with whom he had been linked since October 1985 through a student contract. In the 1987/88 season he first drew attention to himself in the youth selection and in the final first leg of the FA Youth Cup against the Doncaster Rovers he laid the foundation for later title win with a hat trick . He finished the season with a total of 59 goals and almost three months after signing the first professional contract, he made his debut on May 7, 1988 by substitution against his future employer Everton FC (2-1) in the top English division.

Since the two forward positions of Alan Smith and Paul Merson were occupied, Campbell was rarely used in the following years and to gain further match practice loaned in Arsenal first to the fourth division Leyton Orient (from January to March 1989) and later to the second division Leicester City (from November to December 1989). There he showed good scoring qualities and after his return he was part of the Arsenal team that won the English championship in the 1990/91 season . After numerous substitutions, he had successively fought for a place in the starting line-up in the title race and contributed a total of nine goals in 22 league games to the success. Campbell's strengths, whose athleticism was always reminiscent of that of a professional boxer, lay in his speed, both feet and the good head ball game. Despite the good form, this did not mean that Campbell could therefore recommend as a regular player and although Merson dodged to the winger, committed coach George Graham with Ian Wright a new striker, immediately became the one of the supporting pillar at Arsenal. It was not until well into the second half of the 1992/93 season that Campbell, after a spectacular performance in the 7-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday, was preferred to Smith in the starting line-up - with 13 league goals, he was the club's second top scorer.

Campbell, who was still somewhat overshadowed by more prominent teammates and often did not play in the preferred center-forward position, remained a fixture in the team in the following two years and in the double cup success in 1993 from the FA Cup and League Cup against Sheffield Wednesday in the final, he was also in the starting eleven as in the following year 1994 in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup , which he and his men won 1-0 against the Italian cup winners AC Parma in Copenhagen's Parken Stadium . In his last season in 1994/95 for the "Gunners" Campbell had to fight with injuries, which the season for the end of January 1995 ended prematurely.

Nottingham Forest and Trabzonspor (1995–1999)

In early July 1995, he moved to Nottingham Forest for a transfer fee of three million pounds. His new team had previously been third in the Premier League as a promoted team , but had subsequently lost Stan Collymore, his top scorer, to Liverpool FC . Campbell was signed as a replacement, but in the first season he could not meet expectations with only six goals from 31 competitive appearances, which was also due to his protracted back injury, which forced him to take a break between September and December 1995. In the end, his team finished ninth in the league table and in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup , the team failed at the later title holder FC Bayern Munich .

In the following season 1996/97 he started well with a hat trick against Coventry City and let another hit follow in the fourth game against Southampton FC before an injury threw him back. After his re-entry in November 1996, he did not find his form again and he lost his regular place to Nigel Clough and later Pierre van Hooijdonk . Nevertheless, with just six league goals he was still the top scorer of "Forest" (together with Alf-Inge Haaland ), but Nottingham was relegated to the second division as bottom of the table . There he formed a very effective storm duo with Pierre van Hooijdonk and together they contributed 52 goals to the direct resurgence . 23 of them were accounted for by Campbell and, in contrast to the previous seasons, he looked a bit leaner and therefore more persistent.

However, he did not accompany his club into the Premier League, but then moved to Trabzonspor in Turkey . This adventure, as Campbell later called the experience at the north-east Turkish club, turned into a disaster. The reasons were that he was in poor shape and repeatedly in conflict with the club's management - mainly because of the constant delays in salary payments, which led to Campbell turning on the world football association FIFA . The situation escalated at the end of February 1999, when Trabzonspor's President Mehmet Ali Yilmaz publicly criticized him and, in addition to the performances that were perceived as disappointing in sport, racially insulted him (in addition to the statement "We bought a cannibal who calls himself a striker") the name of the dark-skinned player as "discolored" for large vertebra). Campbell then declared his engagement over and a month later he returned to Everton on loan in the English Premier League.

Everton FC (1999-2005)

Campbell was immediately a great support in the relegation battle of the "Toffees" and in the last eight games of the season he scored nine goals. He was proclaimed the savior and successor of the last goalscorer Duncan Ferguson among the fans at Goodison Park ; the conversion of the loan commitment into a permanent position for a transfer fee of three million pounds followed in the summer of 1999. As the new "striker" of the Everton FC Campbell seemed to have become a more complete player beyond the formerly more physical orientation and with twelve league goals in the 1999 season / In 2000 he was the club's top scorer for a second time - despite a prolonged knee injury that had put him out of action in March 2000. England's then national coach Kevin Keegan , who was actually present at Goodison Park in January 2000 to assess Campbell's strike partner Francis Jeffers and Nick Barmby , expressly praised him during this time - but he was denied a full international match throughout his career.

Although Campbell showed a little less determined in the 2000/01 season and did not come in a double-digit league number, he remained in the relegation battle a key player, especially since injuries to strike partner Jeffers and returnees Duncan Ferguson had to be compensated. In addition to signing a new contract in September 2000, he was promoted to team captaincy, making him the first dark-skinned captain in the history of Everton FC. After a good start to the subsequent 2001/02 season with four goals in the first eight games, Campbell had to struggle again with a back injury that forced him to take an almost three-month break. His comeback was followed by weaknesses in form and minor injuries, before he lost the captaincy to Ferguson.

As in the previous year, Campell had a good start into the new 2002/03 season, regaining fitness and team captaincy. After six goals in the first nine games, he suffered from a downturn in goals, but especially towards the end of the season he made a positive contribution to the home wins against FC Southampton and Aston Villa and scored the decisive goal at West Bromwich Albion (2-1) . Striker partners Tomasz Radziński and young Wayne Rooney made a positive impression by his side . Another disappointing 2003/04 season followed, which had a bad start with a thigh injury from preparation. Campell's only personal highlight was his 500th competitive match against ex-club Arsenal, but he had to wait for his only goal of the season against Manchester City (1: 5) until the last match day . The chances of a place in the team were reduced significantly and after the commitment of the new strikers Marcus Bent and James Beattie Everton let him move to first division rivals West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer in January 2005.

Career finale: West Brom and Cardiff (2005–2007)

With the "Baggies" Campbell quickly became the desired leader, which he, alongside Geoff Horsfield, in addition to his three goals, ensured that the combative attitude of many of his teammates improved to such an extent that in the end one was no longer possible held relegation (starting from the position as bottom of the table at Christmas 2004) succeeded - in the last games he took over the captaincy. This did not succeed a second time and in the relegation season 2005/06 Campell was only used sporadically, regardless of which he often led the team as captain before he also gave up this post to Curtis Davies .

Campbell was then released and completed his last professional year in the 2006/07 season at Cardiff City in the second division. He served ostensibly as a replacement for Michael Chopra and Steven Thompson , which meant he was only in four league games in the starting line-up and then found himself on a list of numerous players with whom Cardiff no longer planned. He then ended his active career at the age of 37.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "England - U-21 International Results 1986–1995 - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ^ "England - International Results B-Team - Details" (RSSSF)
  3. ^ Hugman, Barry J .: Premier League: The Players - A Complete Guide to Every Player 1992-93 . Tony Williams Publishing, 1992, ISBN 1-869833-15-5 , pp. 131 .
  4. ↑ Tony Matthews: Who's Who of Arsenal . Mainstream Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-232-6 , pp. 54 f .
  5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 0-09-180854-5 , pp. 40 .
  6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85291-571-4 , pp. 48 .
  7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85291-581-1 , pp. 49 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 54 .
  9. ^ "Football: Slur drives out Campbell" (The Independent)
  10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85291-607-9 , pp. 54 .
  11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 58 .
  12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 54 .
  13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 73 .
  14. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 77 .
  15. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2004, ISBN 1-85291-660-5 , pp. 71 .
  16. ↑ a b Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 1-85291-662-1 , pp. 71 .
  17. ^ Johnson, Steve: Everton - The Official Complete Record . deCoubertin Books, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9564313-2-5 , pp. 71 .
  18. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2006-07 . Mainstream Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-84596-111-0 , pp. 70 .
  19. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2007-08 . Mainstream Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-246-3 , pp. 71 .
personal data
SURNAME Campbell, Kevin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Campbell, Kevin Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 4th February 1970
PLACE OF BIRTH Lambeth , London