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Kevin Campbell (footballer)

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Kevin Campbell
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)
1989 → Leyton Orient (loan) 16 (9)
1989–1990 → Leicester City (loan) 11 (5)
1995–1998 Nottingham Forest 77 (31)
1998–1999 Trabzonspor 18 (5)
1999 → Everton (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

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

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

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Arsenal

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

[edit]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Arsenal 1987–88[35] First Division 1 0 0 0 0 0 – – 1 0
1988–89[35] First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 – – 0 0
1989–90[35] First Division 14 2 0 0 0 0 – – 14 2
1990–91[35] First Division 20 9 4 1 1 0 – – 25 10
1991–92[35] First Division 31 13 1 0 2 0 4[a] 1 1[b] 0 39 14
1992–93[35] Premier League 37 4 6 1 5 4 – – 48 9
1993–94[35] Premier League 37 14 3 0 2 1 8[c] 4 1[b] 0 51 19
1994–95[35] Premier League 23 4 2 0 5 1 3[c] 0 2[d] 0 35 5
Total 163 46 16 2 15 6 15 5 4 0 213 59
Leyton Orient (loan) 1988–89[36] Fourth Division 16 9 – – – – 16 9
Leicester City (loan) 1989–90[36] Second Division 11 5 – – – 1[e] 1 12 6
Nottingham Forest 1995–96[36] Premier League 21 3 1 0 0 0 3[f] 0 – 25 3
1996–97[36] Premier League 17 6 1 0 0 0 – – 18 6
1997–98 First Division 39 22 0 0 0 0 – – 39 22
Total 77 31 2 0 0 0 3 0 – 82 31
Trabzonspor 1998–99 1.Lig 18 5 0 0 – – – 18 5
Everton (loan) 1998–99[36] Premier League 8 9 – – – – 8 9
Everton 1999–2000[36] Premier League 26 12 3 0 2 0 – – 31 12
2000–01[36] Premier League 29 9 1 0 0 0 – – 30 9
2001–02[36] Premier League 23 4 2 1 1 0 – – 26 5
2002–03[36] Premier League 36 10 0 0 3 2 – – 39 12
2003–04[36] Premier League 17 1 1 0 0 0 – – 18 1
2004–05[36] Premier League 6 0 – 1 0 – – 7 0
Total 137 36 7 1 7 2 – – 151 39
West Bromwich Albion 2004–05[36] Premier League 16 3 2 0 – – – 18 3
2005–06[36] Premier League 29 3 1 0 1 0 – – 31 3
Total 45 6 3 0 1 0 – – 49 6
Cardiff City 2006–07[36] Championship 19 0 0 0 1 0 – – 20 0
Career total 494 147 28 3 24 8 18 5 5 1 569 164
  1. ^ Appearances in European Cup
  2. ^ a b Appearance in FA Charity Shield
  3. ^ a b Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup
  4. ^ Appearances in European Super Cup
  5. ^ Appearances in Full Members' Cup
  6. ^ Appearances in UEFA Cup

Honours

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Arsenal Youth

Arsenal

Nottingham Forest

Individual

References

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  1. ^ Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2006). Sky Sports Football Yearbook: 2006–2007. London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 552. ISBN 0-7553-1525-1. OCLC 68771078.
  2. ^ McNulty, Phil (15 June 2024). "Campbell mixed finesse and power with big personality". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Kevin Campbell – Profile". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  4. ^ Sessions, George (12 December 2018). "Clark reminisces about the time Orient signed Arsenal's Campbell". East London Advertiser. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  5. ^ "Kev's debt to Orient". Liverpool Echo.co.uk. 25 January 2002.
  6. ^ "Kevin Campbell, former Everton and Arsenal forward, dies aged 54". The Times. 15 June 2024. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  7. ^ Clarke, Lee (11 October 2019). "Kevin Campbell explains fond memories of playing for Nottingham Forest". Nottingham Forest News. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  8. ^ Simon Kuper (5 May 2002). "Fans hand it to proud Pi-Air". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  9. ^ Morris, Chris (25 February 1999). "Campbell fury over 'cannibal' attack". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  10. ^ a b Wilson, Jonathon (15 June 2024). "Kevin Campbell, legend of the early Premier League, mixed goals with versatility". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  11. ^ "Interview: Kevin Campbell". News Talk. com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  12. ^ a b c "Kevin Campbell-Profile". Everton FC.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  13. ^ "Everton Results". Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  14. ^ "Everton earn first Anfield win since 1999". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Kevin Campbell". Premier League. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  16. ^ "RIP Kevin Campbell". Everton FC. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  17. ^ "Everton football club: Premier League top scorers". 11 v 11.com. Archived from the original on 22 April 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  18. ^ "West Brom sign striker Campbell". BBC Sport. 10 January 2005. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  19. ^ "Kevin Campbell, Baggies soul survivor". Independent.co.uk. 7 July 2013. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  20. ^ "Bluebirds secure Campbell signing". BBC Sport. 2 August 2006. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  21. ^ "Thompson heads Cardiff clear-out". BBC Sport. 16 May 2007. Archived from the original on 10 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
  22. ^ "West Brom 1–0 Cardiff". BBC. 20 February 2007. Archived from the original on 1 March 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  23. ^ "Which uncapped player has scored the most Premiership goals?". The Guardian. 18 August 2004. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  24. ^ "Football: Pearce promoted to head a familiar cast". The Independent. 1 September 1992. Archived from the original on 13 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  25. ^ "Football round the clock". Archived from the original on 10 May 2009.
  26. ^ "Campbell has a Wicked time". BBC Sport. 1 October 2003. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  27. ^ "Court halts Mark Morrison album". BBC News. 13 December 2004. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  28. ^ "R&B star wins court album battle". BBC News. 22 December 2004. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  29. ^ "Kevin Campbell: Striking a balance between rhythm and the Blues at Goodison". Independent.co.uk. 20 March 2004. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
  30. ^ "Stoke City FC on Twitter". Twitter.
  31. ^ Smith, Peter (23 October 2017). "Tyrese Campbell ordered to be more selfish after two-goal burst". Stoke Sentinel. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  32. ^ a b c Rumeana Jahangir (4 July 2024). "Major safety incident linked to Kevin Campbell death". BBC News. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  33. ^ "Kevin Campbell: 1970–2024". LCFC. 15 June 2024. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 16 June 2024.
  34. ^ "Kevin Campbell: Former Arsenal and Everton striker dies aged 54". BBC Sport. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
  35. ^ a b c d e f g h "Kevin Campbell". Football Database. Archived from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  36. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Kevin Campbell". Premier League. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  37. ^ "Kevin Campbell". arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  38. ^ "1993 FA Cup Final". FA Cup Finals. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  39. ^ "Kevin Campbell". Arsenal F.C. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  40. ^ "1991/92 F.A. Charity Shield". Footballsite. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  41. ^ "On This Day: Kevin Campbell sends Arsenal through to Euro final". Sports Mole. 12 April 2015. Archived from the original on 16 June 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  42. ^ "Kevin Campbell: Overview". Premier League. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
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