Kevin Campbell (footballer)

English footballer (1970–2024) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kevin Campbell (footballer)

Kevin Joseph Campbell (4 February 1970 – 15 June 2024) was an English professional footballer, sports television pundit and commentator.

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Kevin Campbell
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Campbell with Everton
Personal information
Full name Kevin Joseph Campbell
Date of birth (1970-02-04)4 February 1970
Place of birth Lambeth, London, England
Date of death 15 June 2024(2024-06-15) (aged 54)
Place of death Manchester, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1985–1988 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1995 Arsenal 163 (46)
1989Leyton Orient (loan) 16 (9)
1989–1990Leicester City (loan) 11 (5)
1995–1998 Nottingham Forest 77 (31)
1998–1999 Trabzonspor 18 (5)
1999Everton (loan) 8 (9)
1999–2005 Everton 137 (36)
2005–2006 West Bromwich Albion 45 (6)
2006–2007 Cardiff City 19 (0)
Total 494 (147)
International career
1990–1992 England U21 4 (1)
1991 England B 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals
Close

A striker, Campbell played in the Premier League for Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Everton and West Bromwich Albion. He also played in the Turkish Süper Lig for Trabzonspor, and in the Football League for Arsenal, Leyton Orient, Leicester City and Cardiff City.

Campbell was capped four times by England U21, scoring once, and received a call-up to the England B team in 1991, for whom he earned one cap.

Club career

Summarize
Perspective

Arsenal

Campbell began his career as a trainee with Arsenal, joining the club on schoolboy forms in 1985. He was prolific for Arsenal's Academy, scoring 59 goals in one season.[2] Campbell also won the FA Youth Cup of 1988 with Arsenal. He went on to make his first-team debut against Everton on 7 May 1988, although the club's forward positions at the time were usually taken by Paul Merson and Alan Smith.[3]

Campbell came to prominence during a loan spell at Leyton Orient in 1989 when he scored nine goals in 16 games. Campbell helped see the club to promotion during that season but did not play in their victorious playoff final against Wrexham as his loan spell had just ended.[4] Orient manager Frank Clark wanted to make the move permanent but Arsenal refused to sell. At the start of the 1989–90 season, he was again loaned out, this time to Leicester City. The following season, he established himself in the Arsenal team, scoring eight times in ten matches during the run-in to the club's First Division title win.[3][5]

Despite Arsenal signing Ian Wright in September 1991, Campbell continued to feature in the team. He scored for Arsenal against Millwall and Derby County in Arsenal's victorious 1992–93 campaigns in the FA Cup and League Cup. In the 1993–94 season, he scored 19 goals, his best for the Gunners.[6] He also featured in the victorious 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, scoring four goals, including one in the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain. His form for the club waned in 1994–95, and the arrivals of forwards John Hartson and Chris Kiwomya saw his playing time reduced. Campbell played 224 times for Arsenal, scoring 60 goals.[3]

Nottingham Forest

In the summer of 1995, Campbell was sold to Nottingham Forest, for an initial fee of £2.5 million, where he spent three seasons. He was part of the team that was relegated in 1997, but his 23 goals the following season helped see the Reds win the Division One title in 1998.[3]

Trabzonspor

Campbell controversially left Forest at the end of the 1997–98 season, against the will of their manager, Dave Bassett, to join Turkish side Trabzonspor for £2.5 million, a move which caused Forest teammate Pierre van Hooijdonk to go "on strike".[7][8] His time in Trabzon saw him leave the club after seven months after a racist incident which involved club president Mehmet Ali Yılmaz calling him a "cannibal".[9] Campbell and his teammates also had not been paid, something which he demanded they rectify.[10] To show solidarity with Campbell, the two club captains, Ogün Temizkanoğlu and Abdullah Ercan, were at his side during a press conference in which he stated his reasons for leaving the club.[11]

Everton

Everton, who were battling against relegation from the Premier League, signed Campbell on loan in March 1999. His impact on the side was immediate as he scored nine goals in his first eight games.[10] These feats made him Everton's top goalscorer both at home and away from Goodison Park for that season. His six goals, which were scored in his first three games, earned him Everton's player of the month award for April, making him the first loanee to be bestowed with the title.[12]

Campbell's move to Everton was made permanent in the summer of 1999 for a fee of £3 million. In the 1999–2000 season, he scored Everton's winning goal in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool at Anfield, which was Everton's last win at Anfield before 2021, when Everton defeated Liverpool 2–0.[13][14] He ended the season as the club's top scorer, with 12 goals scored altogether.[12]

Campbell was Everton's leading goalscorer in 2000–01, but scored just four times during the 2001–02 campaign[15] and returned to the top in 2002–03.[12] After that, injuries limited his appearances for the club and he left in 2005.[16]

Campbell is Everton's fifth-highest Premier League goalscorer, behind Romelu Lukaku, Duncan Ferguson, Tim Cahill and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He was also Everton's first black captain.[17]

West Bromwich Albion

Campbell moved to West Bromwich Albion in January 2005 on a free transfer[18] and helped the club retain its Premiership status. This endeavour marked the first time that a club that had been at the bottom of the top division on Christmas Day had gone on to avoid relegation.[19]

Cardiff City

In May 2006, after West Brom were relegated to the Championship, Campbell was released by the club. He signed for Cardiff City on a free transfer on 2 August 2006.[20] He scored in an FAW Premier Cup quarter-final match away at Carmarthen Town for Cardiff, on 13 February 2007. He was then released by the club in May 2007, thus bringing to an end his career.[21][22]

International career

Campbell earned four caps for the England U-21s and one for England B. He holds the record of being the English player who has scored the most goals in the Premier League without earning a senior cap for his country.[23] In September 1992 he was on stand-by for a friendly against Spain, but this was the nearest he got to being in the senior squad.[24]

Media career

Campbell was featured on the Sky Sports series Where are They Now? in 2008, when he was the co-owner of security company T1 Protection, specialising in supplying bodyguards to celebrities and other wealthy customers whilst travelling abroad. He also worked with Asia-based Sony TEN as a commentator for their Premier League and Champions League coverage.[25]

Campbell ran a record label, 2 Wikid, first signing rapper Mark Morrison, who had previously topped the charts with "Return of the Mack" in 1996.[26] In December 2004, he obtained a court injunction against rival label Jet Star to prevent it from releasing Morrison's album, Innocent Man.[27] The injunction was lifted shortly afterward.[28] The first single released by 2 Wikid was that of Panjabi MC's tune "Backstabbers", a remix of Morrison's original song, which had been released in 2004.[29]

Personal life and death

Campbell's son Tyrese is also a footballer who plays for Sheffield United.[30][31]

Campbell became ill in early 2024 and was admitted to hospital a number of times.[32] He was admitted to Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) in May and died there on 15 June.[33] An interim coroner's report attributed Campbell's death to infective endocarditis leading to multiple organ failure.[32] The hospital is conducting an internal investigation over concerns about Campbell's treatment at MRI.[32]

On Campbell's death, Everton called him "not just a true Goodison Park hero and icon of the English game, but an incredible person as well".[34]

Career statistics

More information Club, Season ...
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Arsenal 1987–88[citation needed] First Division 10000010
1988–89[citation needed] First Division 00000000
1989–90[citation needed] First Division 1420000142
1990–91[citation needed] First Division 20941102510
1991–92[citation needed] First Division 311310204[a]11[b]03914
1992–93[citation needed] Premier League 3746154489
1993–94[citation needed] Premier League 371430218[c]41[b]05119
1994–95[citation needed] Premier League 23420513[c]02[d]0355
Total 163461621561554021359
Leyton Orient (loan) 1988–89[35] Fourth Division 169169
Leicester City (loan) 1989–90[35] Second Division 1151[e]1126
Nottingham Forest 1995–96[35] Premier League 21310003[f]0253
1996–97[35] Premier League 1761000186
1997–98 First Division 392200003922
Total 77312000308231
Trabzonspor 1998–99 1.Lig 18500185
Everton (loan) 1998–99[35] Premier League 8989
Everton 1999–2000[35] Premier League 261230203112
2000–01[35] Premier League 2991000309
2001–02[35] Premier League 2342110265
2002–03[35] Premier League 361000323912
2003–04[35] Premier League 1711000181
2004–05[35] Premier League 601070
Total 13736717215139
West Bromwich Albion 2004–05[35] Premier League 16320183
2005–06[35] Premier League 2931010313
Total 4563010496
Cardiff City 2006–07[35] Championship 1900010200
Career total 49414728324818551569164
Close
  1. Appearances in European Cup
  2. Appearance in FA Charity Shield
  3. Appearances in European Super Cup
  4. Appearances in Full Members' Cup
  5. Appearances in UEFA Cup

Honours

Arsenal Youth

Arsenal

Nottingham Forest

Individual

References

Wikiwand - on

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