Kevin Campbell (footballer)
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Kevin Joseph Campbell | ||
Date of birth | 4 February 1970 | ||
Place of birth | Lambeth, London, England | ||
Date of death | June 2024 (aged 54) | ||
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 | → 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 | 499 | (148) | |
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 – June 2024) was an English professional footballer, sports television pundit and co-commentator. A striker, he 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.
He 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
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. 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][4]
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.[5] 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 Football League Championship of 1998.[3]
Trabzonspor
Campbell controversially left Forest at the end of the 1997–98 season to join Turkish side Trabzonspor for £2.5 million, a move which caused Forest teammate Pierre van Hooijdonk to go "on strike".[6] His time in Trabzon saw him leave the club after seven months after a misunderstood racist incident which involved club president Mehmet Ali Yılmaz calling him a "cannibal". Campbell and his teammates also had not been paid, something which he demanded they rectify. 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.[7]
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. 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.[8]
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.[9][10] He ended the season as the club's top scorer, with 12 goals scored altogether.[8]
He was Everton's leading goalscorer for the following season, but only scored four times during the 2001–02 league campaign, a season in which Campbell was Everton's captain. Campbell was once again the Toffees' top scorer during the subsequent season.[8] After that, injuries limited his appearances for the club, and he left in 2005.
Campbell is Everton's fifth-highest Premier League goal scorer, behind Romelu Lukaku, Duncan Ferguson, Tim Cahill, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. He was Everton's first black captain.[11]
West Bromwich Albion
Campbell moved to West Bromwich Albion in January 2005 on a free transfer[12] 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.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15][16]
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.[17] 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.[18]
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.[19]
Personal life
Campbell ran a record label, 2 Wikid, with the label's first signing being rapper Mark Morrison, who had previously topped the charts with "Return of the Mack" in 1996.[20] In December 2004, with the artist still signed to 2 Wikid, Campbell was forced to obtain a court injunction against rival label Jet Star, in order to prevent it from releasing Morrison's album Innocent Man.[21] The injunction was lifted shortly afterwards.[22] 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.[23]
His son Tyrese is also a footballer. He plays for Stoke City.[24][25]
Death
It was reported by Everton on 2 June 2024 that Campbell was currently "very unwell" in hospital.[26] On 15 June, it was announced that he had died aged 54.[27][28]
Career statistics
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[29] | First Division | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | ||
1988–89[29] | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||
1989–90[29] | First Division | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 14 | 2 | |||
1990–91[29] | First Division | 20 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 25 | 10 | |||
1991–92[29] | First Division | 31 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4[a] | 1 | 1[b] | 0 | 39 | 14 | |
1992–93[29] | Premier League | 37 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 4 | – | – | 48 | 9 | |||
1993–94[29] | Premier League | 37 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8[c] | 4 | 1[b] | 0 | 51 | 19 | |
1994–95[29] | 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 | ||
Nottingham Forest | 1995–96[30] | Premier League | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[e] | 0 | – | 25 | 3 | |
1996–97[30] | 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[30] | Premier League | 8 | 9 | – | – | – | – | 8 | 9 | ||||
Everton | 1999–2000[30] | Premier League | 26 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 12 | ||
2000–01[30] | Premier League | 29 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 9 | |||
2001–02[30] | Premier League | 23 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 5 | |||
2002–03[30] | Premier League | 36 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 39 | 12 | |||
2003–04[30] | Premier League | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 18 | 1 | |||
2004–05[30] | Premier League | 6 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 0 | ||||
Total | 137 | 36 | 7 | 1 | 7 | 2 | – | – | 151 | 39 | ||||
West Bromwich Albion | 2004–05[30] | Premier League | 16 | 3 | 2 | 0 | – | – | – | 18 | 3 | |||
2005–06[30] | Premier League | 29 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 31 | 3 | |||
Total | 45 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 49 | 6 | ||||
Career total | 448 | 133 | 28 | 3 | 23 | 8 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 521 | 149 |
- ^ Appearances in European Cup
- ^ a b Appearance in FA Charity Shield
- ^ a b Appearances in European Cup Winners' Cup
- ^ Appearances in European Super Cup
- ^ Appearances in UEFA Cup
Honours
Arsenal Youth
- FA Youth Cup: 1987–88[3]
Arsenal
- Football League First Division: 1990–91[31]
- FA Cup: 1992–93[32]
- Football League Cup: 1992–93[33]
- FA Charity Shield: 1991 (shared)[34]
- European Cup Winners' Cup: 1993–94[35]
Nottingham Forest
Individual
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ {{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3ggl7zy84xo |title=Campbell mixed finesse and power with big personality |publisher=BBC Sport |date=2024-06-15 |accessdate=2024-06-15 |first=Phil |last=McNulty
- ^ a b c d e f "Kevin Campbell – Profile". Arsenal.com.
- ^ "Kev's debt to Orient". Liverpool Echo.co.uk. 25 January 2002.
- ^ "Kevin Campbell, former Everton and Arsenal forward, dies aged 54". The Times. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ Simon Kuper (5 May 2002). "Fans hand it to proud Pi-Air". The Observer. London. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
- ^ "Interview: Kevin Campbell". News Talk. com.
- ^ a b c "Kevin Campbell-Profile". Everton FC.com. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
- ^ "Everton Results".
- ^ "Everton earn first Anfield win since 1999". BBC Sport.
- ^ "Everton football club: Premier League top scorers". 11 v 11.com.
- ^ "West Brom sign striker Campbell". BBC Sport. 10 January 2005. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
- ^ "Kevin Campbell, Baggies soul survivor". Independent.co.uk. 7 July 2013.
- ^ "Bluebirds secure Campbell signing". BBC Sport. 2 August 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
- ^ "Thompson heads Cardiff clear-out". BBC Sport. 16 May 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
- ^ "West Brom 1-0 Cardiff". BBC. 20 February 2007. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
- ^ "Which uncapped player has scored the most Premiership goals?". The Guardian. 18 August 2004. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
- ^ "Football: Pearce promoted to head a familiar cast". The Independent. 1 September 1992. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
- ^ "Football round the clock". Archived from the original on 10 May 2009.
- ^ "Campbell has a Wicked time". BBC Sport. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
- ^ "Court halts Mark Morrison album". BBC News. 13 December 2004. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
- ^ "R&B star wins court album battle". BBC News. 22 December 2004. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
- ^ "Kevin Campbell: Striking a balance between rhythm and the Blues at Goodison". Independent.co.uk. 20 March 2004.
- ^ "Stoke City FC on Twitter". Twitter.
- ^ Smith, Peter (23 October 2017). "Tyrese Campbell ordered to be more selfish after two-goal burst". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
- ^ "Get Well Soon, Super Kev". Everton F.C. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
- ^ Reis, Bruna (15 June 2024). "Kevin Campbell dies aged 54 as Arsenal and Everton tributes pour in". Football London. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ "Ex-Arsenal and Everton striker Campbell dies aged 54". BBC Sport. 15 June 2024. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Kevin Campbell". Football Database. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Kevin Campbell". Premier League. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
- ^ "Kevin Campbell". arsenal.com. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ "1993 FA Cup Final". FA Cup Finals. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ "Kevin Campbell". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
- ^ "1991/92 F.A. Charity Shield". Footballsite. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
- ^ "On This Day: Kevin Campbell sends Arsenal through to Euro final". Sports Mole. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ "Kevin Campbell: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
External links
- Kevin Campbell at Soccerbase
- 1970 births
- 2024 deaths
- Footballers from the London Borough of Lambeth
- People from Lambeth
- Men's association football forwards
- English men's footballers
- Black British sportsmen
- English expatriate men's footballers
- England men's under-21 international footballers
- England men's B international footballers
- Premier League players
- English Football League players
- Arsenal F.C. players
- Cardiff City F.C. players
- Everton F.C. players
- Leicester City F.C. players
- Leyton Orient F.C. players
- Nottingham Forest F.C. players
- Trabzonspor footballers
- West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
- Süper Lig players
- Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
- English expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
- British association football commentators