Such an odd bloke, Sol. Revealing interview with him in the Guardian from the weekend:
Gets to the heart of quite a lot of the interesting questions about his life - he moved from Spurs to Arsenal because he's not, and never has been a 'football fan', he sees himself as a Tory as he believes in the idea of people dragging themselves out of their problems, yet inequality upsets him more than anything (except the mansion tax!), he doesn't have any real friends, he doesn't talk to some of his siblings.
I think he's going to run for Mayor of London next year, and it's going to be an absolute disaster. He's irrational, insecure, can't take criticisms, and doesn't see to have learned anything about the world from his poor upbringing.
Another recent Campbell story:
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]A few weeks back, the sports minister, Helen Grant, arranged a summit at Whitehall to discuss why there are so few black managers and coaches in the game. Senior figures from the Football Association were there, along with the Premier League, the Professional Footballers’ Association and the Football League. There were guests from Kick It Out and Show Racism the Red Card and Sol Campbell also received an invitation, as an ex-England player who is frustrated, understandably, by the lack of opportunities.
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[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]What Campbell does not appear to realise, perhaps, is that the best way to get a point across is without ego or too much self-esteem.[/font][/size]
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On this occasion he wanted the FA’s technical director, Dan Ashworth, to explain why Gary Neville had been fast-tracked through the system to become one of Roy Hodgson’s assistants with the England team. Ashworth started talking about the favourable impression Neville had made on Hodgson and the players and was running through the processes that were involved when Campbell put out his hand to interrupt him. This is when things started to get a little strange.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]“But I am Sol Campbell.”[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]
As you might imagine, that isn’t a particularly easy sentence to come back from. Ashworth did his best to continue because, well, what else could he do? But it is fair to say the entire room had been engulfed in awkwardness and when Ashworth stopped talking there was another tumbleweed moment. Campbell, hand out, ended the conversation in the same way he had started it.[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]
“But I am Sol Campbell.”[/font][/size]
[size=small][font='Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif]
He was correct. But whether he gets an invitation the next time there is one of these discussions is not entirely clear.[/font][/size]
