Sol Returns - Gunflash 537

The following article was published in the February 2010 issue of Gunflash - The Official Arsenal Supporters' Club Fanzine.


So, Sol Campbell returns to Arsenal as a player. I never thought I would write those words when he left the club four years ago. Only time will tell whether Arsene Wenger’s decision to re-sign the 35-year-old centre-back has been a shrewd move or a miscalculation.
       
Campbell’s first match in the firing line - last month’s FA Cup fourth-round tie at Stoke - ended in disappointment when Arsenal lost 3-1, but Campbell won most of his individual duels and coped well with the home team’s aerial bombardment. His signing is one of the most intriguing of the season and appears to contradict the Arsenal manager’s beliefs. Since our famous back five of Lee Dixon, Steve Bould, Tony Adams, Nigel Winterburn and Martin Keown all retired, Wenger has been reluctant either to buy players over 30 or retain them. Remember Robert Pires? And Gilberto? There are many Gunners supporters who believe that Wenger could have got even more mileage out of them, but both were allowed to move on. Yet the Arsenal manager has made an exception with Campbell, who for the second time has joined the club on a free Bosman transfer and whose contract runs until the end of the season.
        
At his peak, Campbell was a formidable central defender for country as well as club, as his 73 England caps will testify. His best years were with Tottenham, where he captained them to League Cup success in 1999, and then Arsenal, who tempted him away from White Hart Lane in the summer of 2001. Most Spurs fans have never forgiven Campbell for the defection and it must have hurt when success with his new club was instant. Campbell was a member of the Arsenal team who won the Double in 2001-2002 and remained unbeaten away from home in the league. More honours followed and his centre-back partnership with Kolo Toure when Arsenal won the title while going through the 2003-2004 league campaign unbeaten was especially noteworthy.
      
However, the following two seasons ended in anti-climax. An injury to Campbell gave Philippe Senderos his chance at centre-half and the form of the Swiss international was so good that he was preferred to Campbell in Arsenal’s 2005 FA Cup final side to play - and beat - Manchester United. During the next season Campbell lost some of his assurance and swagger. His problems came to a head one February night in the home match against West Ham at Highbury which ended in a 3-2 defeat. At fault for both West Ham’s goals in the first half, Campbell failed to reappear after the interval. He had left the ground at half-time, apparently beset by personal problems, and decided to take a complete break from football. He returned, refreshed, to play an influential part in Arsenal’s Champions League final against Barcelona. Campbell opened the scoring with a typically forceful header from Thierry Henry’s free kick, but the Gunners, down to 10 men because of Jens Lehmann’s early dismissal, were always fighting a losing battle, and Barcelona prevailed 2-1.
       
Campbell played against Wigan in Arsenal’s final match at Highbury on Sunday May 7 2006, but by the time the club had moved into their new stadium at Ashburton Grove the following August, he had departed, saying that he wanted a new challenge. Harry Redknapp gave him that at Portsmouth, where he captained them to FA Cup final victory against Championship team Cardiff two years ago during his second season at Fratton Park. Pompey’s previous FA Cup success had been back in 1939 and this was their first major trophy since they won the League Championship in 1950.
      
Campbell’s performances in his three years at Portsmouth were mixed. There were times when he looked top-notch and as influential as he was at Highbury, but there were others when he appeared sluggish, vulnerable and overweight. Earlier this season Campbell had a brief flirtation (one match at Morecambe to be exact) with League Two team Notts County before quickly realising that lower division football was not his cup of tea. Since then he has been training with Arsenal and Wenger has been impressed by his fitness and attitude. Despite his benign demeanour, the Arsenal manager is no soft touch and it is to Campbell’s credit that Wenger still believes he can be an asset to the squad. 


Mind you, at the astonishing rate Arsenal’s injuries are mounting, Campbell will probably be given an extended run in the team. It will be fascinating to see how he copes with the increasing speed of the Premier League and its most accomplished forwards.
       
Meanwhile, the FA Cup was saved by the third-round upsets at Old Trafford and Anfield, inflicted respectively by Leeds and Reading, who also made their mark in the fourth round. Third-round Saturday, traditionally the most romantic day in the football calendar, had contained no surprises. Sadly, wretched attendances for the third and fourth-round ties have shown that the Cup is not the attraction it once was. Two developments which have not helped are the draw being moved from Monday to Sunday and the FA’s expedient decision to hold both semi-finals at Wembley. And, as more and more managers give less and less priority to the competition by choosing to field weakened teams (Wenger among them) who can blame the supporters for taking the FA Cup less seriously? The suggestion that the FA Cup winners should be rewarded with a place in the Champions League is a good one and would give the competition the shot in the arm it deserves. They are surely more worthy of a place at the top table than a side finishing fourth in the Premier League. Where is the glory in finishing fourth?  It has the status of an also-ran. Punters who back a horse which comes fourth get paid nothing unless the race is a handicap with 16 or more runners. Competitors who finish fourth in the Olympic Games receive no medal.
     
As Wenger pointed out recently, resting players in cup competitions is different from doing it in the league. “The difference is if that kind of thing happens in the FA Cup or League Cup, it doesn’t damage the chances of any other team,” he said. “It can only harm ourselves.”
    
One fervently hopes that manager Mick McCarthy’s cowardly decision to play a virtual Wolves reserve side in their 3-0 league defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford in December - three days after gaining an admirable 1-0 win at Tottenham with their strongest possible side - does not have a crucial bearing on the title race. This waving of the white flag demeans the Premier League and the danger is that more top-flight managers will concentrate solely on collecting points from teams outside “the big four”. Three points should never come as cheaply as this.