Intervija ar Arsenal aizsargu Solu Kempbelu [eng]

Šī intervija notikusi pirms spēles Arsenal-West Ham.

'There are really nice people, and really horrible people'

Shortly before Sol Campbell's descent into despair he spoke at length to Jamie Jackson about his life on and off the pitch. In his last interview before walking out of Highbury, Campbell rails against those 'fools' in football who would rather listen to hearsay than 'take the time to find out about me'

The Observer

Last Wednesday Sol Campbell walked out of Arsenal at half-time, humiliated and unable to play on against a West Ham team who had twice punished his hapless defending. He has not been seen since.

Campbell was excused yesterday's trip to Birmingham despite Arsenal being short of eight defenders. Arsene Wenger says Campbell has a problem in his personal life, though Campbell's solicitor denied this yesterday and said his client will return to work this week.

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The 31-year-old is respected by his colleagues, yet few would claim to know a man who is considered more presence than personality at his club, who overlooked him as the player to replace Patrick Vieira as captain. Campbell, who has a contract worth £3m a year until 2009, made his debut for Tottenham in 1992, scoring against Chelsea. Nine years later he moved to Spurs' bitter rivals. By then he was England's first-choice centre-half. Behind him was the disappointment of a disallowed goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, ahead was the same fate against Portugal at Euro 2004. If either of those had stood he would have been elevated to the kind of hero status his quiet demeanour has never demanded.

Campbell has been lauded as a world-class defender, and has played every minute of every match for England at their past four tournaments. As he told Observer Sport in 2005: 'Next year will make it a decade in the England team. Not many have done that.'

England's first game this year is the friendly against Uruguay next month. Campbell is a doubt for that squad. And for the summer's World Cup.

His move to Arsenal has so far yielded the Double in 2002, and another Premiership title in the 'invincible' season of 2003-04. He also won the League Cup in 1999. Whether the man with a taste for fashion and acting returns to challenge for more honours will be become clearer over the next few days.

It has been a difficult season at Arsenal. Patrick Vieira and Edu have left, senior players are injured - Ashley Cole, Lauren - and Arsene Wenger has had to ask a lot of younger players. Wenger chose Thierry Henry to replace Patrick as skipper. Would you have liked the armband?

'No, not really, no. Not at all. It should be the person who has played longest at a club, say if someone's been there five, six, seven years, I think they should be captain. That's natural.'

You are one of the team's leaders, does that come naturally?

'I'm a leader but I think I hold back. If I was the real me I could be a little bit frightened of myself ...'

How do you mean?

'Not frightened, but you know, there's something inside that stops you from going over the edge, ranting and raving too much. I've found a nice balance; I can be myself and say things when things need to be said. It's all about balance. If you're shouting all day long, after a while it goes in one ear and the other.'

Is finding that balance a result of ageing?

'It wasn't there six or seven years ago.'

Too much football?

'Yeah, mostly football, and I wanted it to be like that, I wanted to get my head down, get to the top, and those things have stayed with me to keep me there. But now I'm a bit more relaxed on the other side of public life and I'm much happier now.'

You have to be conscious of who you are and who you play for. Is that suffocating?

'The main thing is I just want to play football, but that [being in the spotlight] I had to slowly accept. I had to say "It's there, deal with it, don't give in." [Laughs]. And then within that, be yourself. Now, I can have my private life, I can go out, do what I want to do.'

How has the media changed since you began playing in 1992?

'The spotlight is on football. It was always there, but now the mass media, the internet ... it's taken over. People in Australia once had to wait to get a paper, now it's next day on the internet.'

Are you able to stand back and think 'I'm Sol Campbell, I've played this many years, been this successful' and so on?

'I'm aware that it is a precious career. When you're young, you're on a kind of buzz trip, enjoying yourself playing football, everything's hunky dory. You have no fear. But as you go further, you have more responsibilities and the whole game changes again. You shouldn't really lose the fun, the enjoyment. But you should realise that you're in the game to win. Ultimately that's what happens at big clubs.'

Do you have time to broaden your life outside football?

'Hardly any time really. Every now and then I will read a book. I like autobiographies. I prefer stories about real people who've done things, been to the top and suffered. Muhammad Ali, that was really good. Nelson Mandela.'

What has life taught you?

'Life has taught me that there are some really nice people, but some really horrible people.'

How do you handle the not very nice?

'You just deal with them. Sometimes you've got to work with them, or just walk by them. That's the best way.'

Your brother John was jailed for assaulting a man [in 2005] who taunted him that you are gay?

'Yeah. I think a lot of footballers have had their families in court. You've just got to deal with it. It's difficult, you don't like it, but you've just got to deal with it.'

Can football teach you anything about life?

'Can football teach anything about life? [Pause] Yeah, well I think life, my life prepared me for football really. Inadvertently. You've got to be strong, you've got to be strong, you've got to be strong out there. Some people, some games are difficult. Some are easy, like life. Some days you wake up everything goes smoothly, other days you've got to work for it'

Growing up with 10 brothers and sisters sounds tough.

'Yeah, it was. It's not a walk in the park where I'm from [Newham, east London]. And it doesn't mean I'm not human, I am human. But it made me tough, resilient.'

You were initially reluctant to go to West Ham when you were younger.

'I played for West Ham for a while and I didn't sing but I was there for six months playing.

'I didn't want to go anywhere. I just wanted to play football. I didn't want to join anyone. I didn't want someone saying, "Right here's a contract, you're for us." No. I hate order. I hate order... but then I like order. You've got to have some kind of structure to move different things in different directions. But sometimes when it goes too much I don't like it. Again, it's the balance thing.'

That's quite a strong thing to feel in your early teens.

'Yeah, I didn't want to be controlled, having a contract and having to come in at this and that time. No. Give me a time and I'll be there. But you don't need to have a contract.'

So through your career, how have you found authority?

'I haven't any problems with it. I just don't like it when it starts stifling the natural ability of an individual.'

Do you feel you've had good coaching?

'I had a good time at Lilleshall [former FA school of excellence]. I spent two really good years there, with good people. It was the first time I really saw countryside. It's a concrete jungle where I'm from. I loved it. Sometimes. I go back there when I'm going up north.'

And where you grew up?

'Yeah. I go to the park where I used to play football, or have a stroll around the area, go to my family's house.'

Before a game, do you still feel nerves?

'I just like being in it. It's my kind of escape.'

And what do you feel when journalists criticise you?

'There's so much tough skin someone can have. As I said, my life before football has made me, inadvertently, really strong.'

Last season you were injured a lot. Suddenly people claimed you were not the player you had been, the player who had been chosen in the select XI in previous international tournaments [World Cup '98 and 02, Euro 2004].

'I think every sportsman or woman goes through that. There's always someone who's going to say something. It's best to ignore it. Sometimes the media have twisted things in the past. And I know they're capable of doing that.'

We don't read much about your charity work.

'Every now and then I help out, with sickle cell anaemia, yeah. That's more for photographs and so on. They took some blood from me eight or nine years ago to put me on record.

'But I've got my own charity, my local YMCA in Newham. I'm the vice-patron. They help the homeless, with food and shelter, help people back on their feet, educate them, get them enrolled into life again. I help out by buying a bus, computers, things like that. I've done that for nearly five years. Sometimes I serve food. That's quite nice. At Christmas I go carol singing. My family is Church of England.'

After your football career ends you seem quite interested in different things. Acting, for example.

'I'm interested in film, I'm interested in fashion and those are two things I'd like to go into because when you're 37, 38, you've got to have your teeth into something. I kind of just leave it [acting] to the side and let things progress. I'm not going into it or you get caned. You get every Tom, Dick and Harry saying, "What's he going into that for?" I ain't got time for that. I'm not talking about that any more.'

Would you rather your form was criticised, written about, than off-field events?

'As long as it's deserved. Sometimes people have their hidden agendas and I'm not stupid. I know some people are for you and some against you.'

Is it a compliment how hostile the Spurs fans are when you return?

[Campbell pauses] 'I don't know. It's one of those things. It has spurred me on though. Its has made me understand what football really means.'

What?

'It's a lot of things. Football's not just football any more. It really isn't. People use it for their own gains. For pleasure. Use it to voice their opinions. And for power. Football's changed. Not so much the playing, but outside it's changed. People are using football for their own personal uses. It can break down a lot of barriers, and on the other hand people voice their opinions, racist or whatever.'

What do you think of the image of footballers?

'The way they're portrayed is too dated now. It's boring. Very stereotypical. Also time changes guys, so does experience. It forges you, who you are.'

You have said: 'All artists have their own quirky little ways. I like to be a tiger roaming the jungle or an eagle soaring the skies. Just being me with no worries. People like to put people in little boxes and if you don't fit you're odd. But they don't really know anything about me.'

'It's true. In football, people don't spend time to actually find out about you. Most of the lads here [at Arsenal] will know a lot about me because of how I am. It's the ones who don't even bother, who just listen to hearsay, the fools following the fools ... Unbelievable.'

So how do you change that?

'By being me now. And slowly, but surely, time will tell who I am. That's it. I'm just a chilled-out guy who wants to work hard and move on, do the right things. Like any other guy in the world. You want play football, have a family, or proper family, and bring your kids up, learn more about life. Diversify.'

You say 'proper family'. I believe you have a son [Joseph, 22 months].

'Yeah. Yeah, I have a son. It's different. It wasn't what I wanted in the sense of the timing but now he's here he's comfortable and we'll see how life pans out.'

Do people have a right to know about your private life?

'No. If you want to show who you really are [in public] that's perfectly OK. But time will tell who people are over the years.'

And the argument from the fan in the street who could say 'Sol Campbell's on so many thousands a week and part of his success is due to media exposure'?

'Really? I think not. I think it's from performances from the pitch.'

Looking ahead to the World Cup, how are England's chances?

'The weather is going to be a big factor for us. Last time [in Japan 2002] it was ridiculous. Even in Portugal [Euro 2004] it was quite hot.'

You had a disallowed goal against Argentina in 1998, another against Portugal in Euro 2004. Do they still hurt?

'Yeah. I just hope it's third-time lucky and it counts.'

How confident are you of being picked?

'It's going to come down to who's fit, and who's playing well. No one can answer that.'

Tony Adams has said that positioning is a weakness of yours. Would you agree?

'I don't know. I'm happy with what I'm doing and with what I've done. That's the main thing.'

I read that you wouldn't mind playing in New York, for the Metro Stars, when you're older, that you have family out there.

'Yeah. Somewhere like that or Europe, when I'm 35, for a couple of years ...'

What would be your perfect scenario when you retire? Are you interested in staying in football?

'I don't know. Some people go away and come back to it. I might go away for couple of years and come back.'