So over nine years ago Spurs fans were hit by the news that our star defender, well to be honest, best player, was heading down the Seven Sisters Road from White Hart Lane to Highbury.
At that time Spurs were not in a good state, we lacked a decent strength side and it would be several seasons before we got a sniff of European football. Our foreign players included the likes of Tarrico, Ziege and Iversen while we awaited the return of Teddy Sheringham and Willem Korsten gave one good game (the final match of the season against Manchester United in fact).
At the end of that game, the Spurs players did a lap of honour of White Hart Lane and an injured, suited Sol Campbell was among them. During this we sang the song ‘Sol Campbell Campbell, he’s done his country proud, we’ll sing his name out loud, Sol Campbell Campbell'. However just weeks later he was on his way and his return around nine years ago was met with a level of abuse rarely seen from Spurs fans. I didn’t get to the match, but went along the following season when attitudes had not mellowed. After the first instance, legendary player and manager Terry Venables claimed that he was surprised as ‘Spurs fans are usually a lot more fair than that’.
In evaluation now, the questions to be asked are: did he do wrong in leaving Spurs? Arguably not. He went and played for another club among better players and won silverware. Should he have left for free? No, he was at the end of his contract and the finest defender of his generation, who was nurtured and developed by Spurs left for nothing.
Finally did he turn his back on us as fans? Yes. He was undoubtedly aware of what sort of reaction he was going to get and while would have met with boos the like of Teddy Sheringham and Dimitar Berbatov would go on to receive, there would have been nothing like the level of abuse had he have played for Liverpool or Manchester United.
So nine years on, the question to ask is ‘is it time to forgive Sol Campbell?’ I say he has been given the criticism, has left Arsenal (and returned and left again) and in that time since summer 2001 I do not recall him saying a bad word against the club, or its employees. I am sure there is a strong level of anger running through him over the treatment he has had to endure not only from the stands, but online also.
For one of the most flexible players in our history (I recall him playing as a makeshift striker during a shortage against Derby in the mid 1990s) I don’t ask if it is time to forgive Sol Campbell, I say it is time to forgive Sol Campbell.
As he nears the end of his career I would hate for him to be judged for the rest of his life on that decision and while I do not expect a statue outside the new stadium of him next to George Graham with the 1999 league cup held aloft, I would like for one of the finest products of our academy to be told that he could return to White Hart Lane and be welcomed back with memories of the player who debuted at Spurs, earned his first England cap while as a player and learnt the skills that would go on to be performed on a national and international stage for many years.
At that time Spurs were not in a good state, we lacked a decent strength side and it would be several seasons before we got a sniff of European football. Our foreign players included the likes of Tarrico, Ziege and Iversen while we awaited the return of Teddy Sheringham and Willem Korsten gave one good game (the final match of the season against Manchester United in fact).
At the end of that game, the Spurs players did a lap of honour of White Hart Lane and an injured, suited Sol Campbell was among them. During this we sang the song ‘Sol Campbell Campbell, he’s done his country proud, we’ll sing his name out loud, Sol Campbell Campbell'. However just weeks later he was on his way and his return around nine years ago was met with a level of abuse rarely seen from Spurs fans. I didn’t get to the match, but went along the following season when attitudes had not mellowed. After the first instance, legendary player and manager Terry Venables claimed that he was surprised as ‘Spurs fans are usually a lot more fair than that’.
In evaluation now, the questions to be asked are: did he do wrong in leaving Spurs? Arguably not. He went and played for another club among better players and won silverware. Should he have left for free? No, he was at the end of his contract and the finest defender of his generation, who was nurtured and developed by Spurs left for nothing.
Finally did he turn his back on us as fans? Yes. He was undoubtedly aware of what sort of reaction he was going to get and while would have met with boos the like of Teddy Sheringham and Dimitar Berbatov would go on to receive, there would have been nothing like the level of abuse had he have played for Liverpool or Manchester United.
So nine years on, the question to ask is ‘is it time to forgive Sol Campbell?’ I say he has been given the criticism, has left Arsenal (and returned and left again) and in that time since summer 2001 I do not recall him saying a bad word against the club, or its employees. I am sure there is a strong level of anger running through him over the treatment he has had to endure not only from the stands, but online also.
For one of the most flexible players in our history (I recall him playing as a makeshift striker during a shortage against Derby in the mid 1990s) I don’t ask if it is time to forgive Sol Campbell, I say it is time to forgive Sol Campbell.
As he nears the end of his career I would hate for him to be judged for the rest of his life on that decision and while I do not expect a statue outside the new stadium of him next to George Graham with the 1999 league cup held aloft, I would like for one of the finest products of our academy to be told that he could return to White Hart Lane and be welcomed back with memories of the player who debuted at Spurs, earned his first England cap while as a player and learnt the skills that would go on to be performed on a national and international stage for many years.
If you wish to contribute please feel free to email me at matthew_a_doy@yahoo.com
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