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Sol Campbell - overlooked on England captaincy on racial grounds?

OldBlueLady

Junior Blues Coordinator⭐⭐
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Used to quite like Campbell but he's just gone right down in my estimation with this:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...overlooked-England-captaincy-colour-skin.html

He came into the England squad when Tony Adams was captain, and Shearer took it over after. During Shearer's time, the following were all given the captaincy for short periods - Pearce, Ince, Seaman, Campbell and Keown. Beckham took over in 2000, and Owen, Terry and Ferdinand all took the captaincy for a time during his incumbency. It seems to be the appointment of Owen that's particularly getting his goat. Is he saying that he's a better captain than any of those others and that's why he should have been given the captaincy? No, just that the colour of his skin held him back.

Just accept you weren't good enough Sol, and there were others around better suited, not everything comes down to race.
 
I read that yesterday and thought what a load of rubbish. Campbell was a great defender but he wasn't Captain at Arsenal - I think Adams and Vieira were, so why does he think he should have captained England when the likes of Shearer and Beckham were there?
 
Campbell would probably have been a better shout than Owen, but all the others named above were very deserving of the armband.

Beckham in particular was an inspired choice - at the time it seemed a very surprising one, but credit to Peter Taylor, who first gave Beckham his chance while caretaker manager.
 
Wasn't Ince captain during the same period? If so, sort of negates your argument Solomon.
 
Wasn't Ince captain during the same period? If so, sort of negates your argument Solomon.

Ince, like Campbell, was never the full time captain. He only got the armband when others were injured.
(This isn't to say that I agree with Campbell's argument)

Incidentally, getting the captaincy also meant Ince had to stop his superstition of being the last player on to the field and only putting his shirt on as he emerged from the tunnel.
 
Ince, like Campbell, was never the full time captain. He only got the armband when others were injured.
(This isn't to say that I agree with Campbell's argument)

Incidentally, getting the captaincy also meant Ince had to stop his superstition of being the last player on to the field and only putting his shirt on as he emerged from the tunnel.

Gah! No wonder we haven't won the world cup in 200 years. Damn you Ince, go home to Ilford :angry:
 
He's got to sell his book somehow... I doubt anybody outside of North London would give much of a **** what Campbell had to say otherwise.
 
This from Sam Wallace of The Independent....

"When Sol Campbell says he should have been made England captain he is surely talking about the day David Beckham was appointed after Euro 2000. A few years ago I interviewed a prominent England footballer who said the same – off the record of course – that Campbell, not Beckham, should have been Alan Shearer’s successor.

In the extracts from his authorised biography, Campbell seems more aggrieved about Michael Owen being given the job on the odd occasion. But there was a feeling among many players in the squad that Campbell should have taken precedence over Beckham when the latter was given the job, first by caretaker manager Peter Taylor and then by Sven Goran Eriksson. At the time, Beckham and Campbell both had 36 caps, and Campbell had twice captained the team already.

Campbell may well be derided as a crank or bitter in the weeks to come. But he was by no means alone in believing he should have been England captain
."
 
But that's besides the point unless the sole reason that Beckham got the armband was because he is white.
 
He's got to sell his book somehow... I doubt anybody outside of North London would give much of a **** what Campbell had to say otherwise.
always loved Campbell as a player but has always talked a lot of rubbish at times, this last lot out of his mouth just makes you wanna laugh tho, a lot of people will look down on him now playing the oldest card in the book....prat.
 
Wining about racism again. Didn't he predict before Euro 2012 that England fans would be killed in Ukraine and Poland?

He just sounds bitter and the fact that several people have come out to refute his claims (including Ian Wright) shows he's just doing this to sell his book. I agree he's more captain material than Michael Owen but the three main England captains during his time were Shearer, Beckham and Terry, all of whom were far better players and leaders for England. Campbell was a quality defender in his prime but he was never a vocal, aggressive sort of centre-back and just look how his career ended - a one-game spell at Notts County.
 
Wining about racism again. Didn't he predict before Euro 2012 that England fans would be killed in Ukraine and Poland?

He just sounds bitter and the fact that several people have come out to refute his claims (including Ian Wright) shows he's just doing this to sell his book. I agree he's more captain material than Michael Owen but the three main England captains during his time were Shearer, Beckham and Terry, all of whom were far better players and leaders for England. Campbell was a quality defender in his prime but he was never a vocal, aggressive sort of centre-back and just look how his career ended - a one-game spell at Notts County.

More Adams at the beginning than Terry at the end of his time I think.
 
Great player Campbell but i dont think he has done himself any favours here.I think successive England managers did not make him a regular England captain because they did not think he was the right man or they thought there was better candidates rather than because of the colour of his skin.
 
Great player Campbell but i dont think he has done himself any favours here.I think successive England managers did not make him a regular England captain because they did not think he was the right man or they thought there was better candidates rather than because of the colour of his skin.

How do we know? There aren't many black managers, captains or influential people in the FA. It's pretty clear that some barriers need to be torn down.
 
How do we know? There aren't many black managers, captains or influential people in the FA. It's pretty clear that some barriers need to be torn down.

Possibly imagined barriers though.....still comes down to merit at the end of the day for me.
 
Sounds like what people were saying about the NFL in the 90s.

It is a tricky one. Clearly, there is something not quite right as the percentage of black coaches (and indeed senior administrators) is a poor reflection on the influence black players have within the game.

Come to think of it, what about TV pundits? Soccer Saturday and MOTD don't tend to look too much like a Benetton advert (Matt Murray and Dion Dublin being the first exceptions that spring to mind).

Yet you risk tokenism and time wasting if there is a 'Rooney Rule' for managers. Take Man Utd last summer. Moyes was anointed by Ferguson as his successor so was always going to get the job. They could have gone through the charade of interviewing (say) Paul Ince, but to whose benefit?

I'm sure there is a better way. But I'm really not sure what it is.

Going back to Campbell, he was never particularly forthcoming with the media and would typically start press conferences with "how long is this going to take". With being in front of the media a major part of the England captaincy, he wasn't exactly sticking his hand up for the job with that sort of attitude.
 
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It is a tricky one. Clearly, there is something not quite right as the percentage of black coaches (and indeed senior administrators) is a poor reflection on the influence black players have within the game.

Come to think of it, what about TV pundits? Soccer Saturday and MOTD don't tend to look too much like a Benetton advert (Matt Murray and Dion Dublin being the first exceptions that spring to mind).

Yet you risk tokenism and time wasting if there is a 'Rooney Rule' for managers. Take Man Utd last summer. Moyes was anointed by Ferguson as his successor so was always going to get the job. They could have gone through the charade of interviewing (say) Paul Ince, but to who's benefit?

I'm sure there is a better way. But I'm really not sure what it is.

Going back to Campbell, he was never particularly forthcoming with the media and would typically start press conferences with "how long is this going to take". With being in front of the media a major part of the England captaincy, he wasn't exactly sticking his hand up for the job with that sort of attitude.

Yes all good points. I think good captains make good coaches (and pundits! c.f. G. Neville) and good coaches make good managers. The fact that there's only a handful of black captains in the 92 is alarming and one things that could be highlighted/influenced via clubs/managers without having to do something drastic like a Rooney Rule.
 
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