FORMER ENGLAND FOOTBALLER Sol Campbell claims he would have been national captain for more than 10 years had he been white, in extracts of his biography published on Sunday.
The 39-year-old, who won 73 full international caps for his country, including three as captain, said the Football Association and the majority of fans did not want a black player heading the England team.
“I believe if I was white, I would have been England captain for more than 10 years — it’s as simple as that,” the former Tottenham and Arsenal defender said in his new biography serialised in The Sunday Times.
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“I think the FA wished I was white. I had the credibility, performance-wise to be captain.
“I was consistently in the heart of the defence and I was a club captain early in my career.
“I don’t think it will change because they don’t want it to and probably the majority of fans don’t want it either.”
Campbell, who retired from the professional game in May 2012 having been released by Newcastle United the previous year, claimed a “glass ceiling” was preventing blacks players from taking the England armband at the highest level.
“It’s alright to have black captains and mixed race in the Under-18s and Under-21s but not for the full national side – there is a ceiling and although no one has ever said it, I believe it’s made of glass.”
He added that the appointment of former Liverpool striker Michael Owen as the national side’s captain ahead of him was “embarrassing.”
“I think the FA didn’t want me to have a voice. Owen was a fantastic forward but nowhere near being a captain.
“I’ve asked myself many times why I wasn’t. I keep coming up with the same answer. It was the colour of my skin.”
Campbell’s three games as captain came in three friendly matches – against Belgium and the Czech Republic in 1998 under manager Glenn Hoddle, and against the United States in 2005 under Sven-Goran Eriksson.
What has Paul McGrath got to do with this?
I can’t ever remember him ever being less than humble, interesting and extremely modest in any interview I’ve ever heard..
I read his book
He never harped on about colour he did say his childhood was tough but not because of his skin colour it was because of his surroundings
On another note, if I was English and a better soccer player I think I would have been in the Team too – can I sue the FA for discriminating against me?
This is the same man who labeled Ukraine as a racist country and said not to go to the Euros because you could come home in a coffin. I’d say he couldn’t even point it out on a map. The man’s a clown with an awful chip on his shoulder.
It’s because he didn’t have the mentality , after all he did walk off the pitch at half time and not play again after having a shocker game , where’s the captains mentality there ? And quite simply he was no where near good enough to captain the England team
What next .. I Was white I could have been Bobby Moore.. bag Of shite..Probably more to do more with when he went to trap a ball it went further than when he tried to kick it.
Come on Sol,a lot of black/Asian players would have been
Overwhelmed with the success you had with the skills you
had.
Have you not heard phrase, be grateful for what you got?
40 years ago Sol may have had a point about race or colour but not in his era! I wasn’t selected cos I’m Irish, ginger and crap at football but I’ll brush those chips off my shoulders and get on with what never happened. Sol you just were not good enough, but hey whatever it takes to boost a has beens book! Hope the type is big enough and the words are not too big otherwise the Sun readers will never get it!
I bet he didn’t criticise the South African FA for deliberately not picking a white player for any of their games in the last World Cup, as was revealed in a BBC Panorama investigation.
This man is just trying to sell his book, he walked out on Spurs and rather the go to any other team he went to Spurs bitterest rival Arsenal, thus he will always be known as Judas amongst Spurs fans, he is just looking to make headlines to sell his book!
He has got a book to try and sell. It’s not going to sell based on his rather blunt career. Yes, he won trophies with a super Arsenal team but there are no stand out individual moments for us to say “I really want to read that book”.
He is right , the captaincy in the UK is more to do with appeasing the fans and not upsetting the board of the bigotry FA. Sol was a fantastic player and led his team well . Owen was never a leader on the pitch in fact he spent most of it off the pitch.
Owen was playing every game for club and country at the highest level for 12 years without a break scoring loads of goals. His body broke down later on and people forget what he achieved. He scored goals at every club he played at. He won trophies and European player of the year???? What are you on about???
Agree with a lot people here great talent but seem to be as thick as cowsh*t here defo not the right attitude on him to be captain whatever about Owen the a certain class expect of the England captain that I don’t think sol would have brought to it
Some people will go to any lengths to sell a book,,shame on him for disrespecting his fellow England teammates,looking back on his career it was always driven by greed even dropped down a couple of divisions to play for notts co when he was still in his prime,should be honoured to have captained his country 3 times..
To be fair to Owen, he won European player of the year won a couple of trophies, scored a bag full of goals and was a excellent professional. Never in a paper for the wrong reason. It doesn’t really matter who the captain is anyways, there should be leaders all around the pitch. I don’t think his colour had anything to do with it?
I could be wrong but did Paul Ince captain England a couple of times?
He’s a bit off the is Sol anyways I think people just didn’t want to see a black captain of England.
People see what they want. I remember the Wembley crowd booing John Barnes. The commentators were sure this was racism, not the fact that Barnes was past it and could no longer pass the ball forwards. Which made it rather inconvenient that the biggest cheer of the night was when Andy Cole came on.
I remember being in the Kop in Anfield in the early nineties when Barnes was playing and what I heard was definitely racism aimed towards him from both sides of spectators.
It’s well documented that his personal life was all over the place. That’s why he was never made full time captain. He couldn’t look after himself how could he captain his country?
You can tell from comment here who is racist , it’s simply as that , we have loots if them here
Ukraine is racist county , it’s well known facts, let’s be clear NOT ALL Ukrainians are just like anywhere in the world
SOL was good captain in spurs .you come here and hide behind your finger and give us all excuse
Micheal Owen he should Not being a captain it’s like that man former Arsenal William gallas , Charles Puyol, many more
So if Sol feels that , that is his feelings , we are entitle to our feelings . Black and white have feelings .
Let’s have good comment this a issue not a joke it someone it’s like , let’s be wise about it and take long look at this matter and to be ignoramus
It wasn’t racism that denied him the captaincy it was hype. Look who the captains were while he was playing for England, Shearer and Beckham, PR captains. Glenn Hoddle made Shearer captain ahead of Tony Adams after Euro 96 because he had the biggest impact for England in that tournament as far as the casual supporters were concerned. Beckham was an even bigger PR captain made so by Sven who’s decision making capacity included leaving an experienced back-up striker out of the World cup when his two main picks already had injury problems. The decision of captain needs to take the interests of corporate bandwagon jumpers into account.
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BS. He wasn’t good enough, simple as that. Why is the race card always drawn for someone’s own failure.
Oooh cry me a river …….. Oops or build a bridge ……. Maybe you will get over it
Paul mc Grath all over again
What has Paul McGrath got to do with this?
I can’t ever remember him ever being less than humble, interesting and extremely modest in any interview I’ve ever heard..
Maybe you should read his book again, because I don’t know how you could draw those conclusions from it!!
Well I read it and am quite sure I didn’t misrepresent his feelings
I read his book
He never harped on about colour he did say his childhood was tough but not because of his skin colour it was because of his surroundings
Well I think you should read it again………. What did he blame his mother for?
If I have to I will go looking for it and start printing quotes
Roland you mocked dead civilians so you have no right to say anything about anybody.
Crimea River? Wrong story surely…
He’s right about Owen. Dreadful choice as captain. Personality of a stamp.
What kind of stamp?
The great G Neville would have been made captain if had not been Owen.
I suppose the man is trying to sell books but it’s a really cheap way to do it.
Maybe he just didn’t have the right attitude to be captain.
On another note, if I was English and a better soccer player I think I would have been in the Team too – can I sue the FA for discriminating against me?
He just wasn’t good enough as a player and did make an impression when he was given the Captaincy.
It was his ability and personality that let him down not his pigmentation.
This is the same man who labeled Ukraine as a racist country and said not to go to the Euros because you could come home in a coffin. I’d say he couldn’t even point it out on a map. The man’s a clown with an awful chip on his shoulder.
So typical of the ignorant to disregard the experiences of other people..perhaps because you share racist views?
Lets blame those nasty white people and stir up some controversy so I can sell more books.
It’s because he didn’t have the mentality , after all he did walk off the pitch at half time and not play again after having a shocker game , where’s the captains mentality there ? And quite simply he was no where near good enough to captain the England team
Good publicity that
Exactly.
The book is obviously complete tripe so to add a bit of spice you go for the old chestnut…… Racism !!
With the way things are going with their football it won’t be long until the white players are crying racism
What next .. I Was white I could have been Bobby Moore.. bag Of shite..Probably more to do more with when he went to trap a ball it went further than when he tried to kick it.
Come on Sol,a lot of black/Asian players would have been
Overwhelmed with the success you had with the skills you
had.
Have you not heard phrase, be grateful for what you got?
At least most people see this for what it is
40 years ago Sol may have had a point about race or colour but not in his era! I wasn’t selected cos I’m Irish, ginger and crap at football but I’ll brush those chips off my shoulders and get on with what never happened. Sol you just were not good enough, but hey whatever it takes to boost a has beens book! Hope the type is big enough and the words are not too big otherwise the Sun readers will never get it!
Who says the race card is an easy reach.
I bet he didn’t criticise the South African FA for deliberately not picking a white player for any of their games in the last World Cup, as was revealed in a BBC Panorama investigation.
Talking out of your arse..you are mired in racist thinking and, as a true racist you hide behind notions of free speech.
Good player but he has the Iq of a rocking chair
Utter bullshit
This man is just trying to sell his book, he walked out on Spurs and rather the go to any other team he went to Spurs bitterest rival Arsenal, thus he will always be known as Judas amongst Spurs fans, he is just looking to make headlines to sell his book!
He has got a book to try and sell. It’s not going to sell based on his rather blunt career. Yes, he won trophies with a super Arsenal team but there are no stand out individual moments for us to say “I really want to read that book”.
Was he captain of Arsenal for 10 years? No. Case closed. Move on please.
Agree, trying to sell a book! Has he no money left? Why do these ex footballers write these books?
He is right , the captaincy in the UK is more to do with appeasing the fans and not upsetting the board of the bigotry FA. Sol was a fantastic player and led his team well . Owen was never a leader on the pitch in fact he spent most of it off the pitch.
Hahahahahahaahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha your comment is not proving to be popular today prob the Afc in your name!
Owen was playing every game for club and country at the highest level for 12 years without a break scoring loads of goals. His body broke down later on and people forget what he achieved. He scored goals at every club he played at. He won trophies and European player of the year???? What are you on about???
Agree with a lot people here great talent but seem to be as thick as cowsh*t here defo not the right attitude on him to be captain whatever about Owen the a certain class expect of the England captain that I don’t think sol would have brought to it
Rio Ferdenand did and I’m pretty sure John Barnes did a short stint aswell.
Some people will go to any lengths to sell a book,,shame on him for disrespecting his fellow England teammates,looking back on his career it was always driven by greed even dropped down a couple of divisions to play for notts co when he was still in his prime,should be honoured to have captained his country 3 times..
Judas!! COYS!!
To be fair to Owen, he won European player of the year won a couple of trophies, scored a bag full of goals and was a excellent professional. Never in a paper for the wrong reason. It doesn’t really matter who the captain is anyways, there should be leaders all around the pitch. I don’t think his colour had anything to do with it?
I could be wrong but did Paul Ince captain England a couple of times?
He’s a bit off the is Sol anyways I think people just didn’t want to see a black captain of England.
People see what they want. I remember the Wembley crowd booing John Barnes. The commentators were sure this was racism, not the fact that Barnes was past it and could no longer pass the ball forwards. Which made it rather inconvenient that the biggest cheer of the night was when Andy Cole came on.
I remember being in the Kop in Anfield in the early nineties when Barnes was playing and what I heard was definitely racism aimed towards him from both sides of spectators.
It’s well documented that his personal life was all over the place. That’s why he was never made full time captain. He couldn’t look after himself how could he captain his country?
Maybe you need to be black to understand what he’s saying …
Thick and gullible more like.
You can tell from comment here who is racist , it’s simply as that , we have loots if them here
Ukraine is racist county , it’s well known facts, let’s be clear NOT ALL Ukrainians are just like anywhere in the world
SOL was good captain in spurs .you come here and hide behind your finger and give us all excuse
Micheal Owen he should Not being a captain it’s like that man former Arsenal William gallas , Charles Puyol, many more
So if Sol feels that , that is his feelings , we are entitle to our feelings . Black and white have feelings .
Let’s have good comment this a issue not a joke it someone it’s like , let’s be wise about it and take long look at this matter and to be ignoramus
Just trying to sell his book ..I remember the picture of paul ince covered in blood wearing thd captains armband ..colour isn’t an issue its attitude
racist
Scientist
Pianist
Those are professionalism people specialise in those field
Expect in those field
Most footballers are not that bright. Campbell is not even close to approaching bright.
It wasn’t racism that denied him the captaincy it was hype. Look who the captains were while he was playing for England, Shearer and Beckham, PR captains. Glenn Hoddle made Shearer captain ahead of Tony Adams after Euro 96 because he had the biggest impact for England in that tournament as far as the casual supporters were concerned. Beckham was an even bigger PR captain made so by Sven who’s decision making capacity included leaving an experienced back-up striker out of the World cup when his two main picks already had injury problems. The decision of captain needs to take the interests of corporate bandwagon jumpers into account.