After all the talk, all the debate, all the speculation, all the back page column inches, Sol Campbell has signed for the Scum. As repulsive as the thought was, it was always a possibility. As far as I was concerned, it was purely a matter of whether he was brave (or stupid) enough to do it. It would seem that he is. Over the past few days, I got the feeling that it was going to happen, and I braced for impact. I thought I had come to terms with it, but I was totally unprepared for how angry it made me.
Sol Campbell has always liked to portray himself as a “Spurs Man” – a man with Tottenham Hotspur in his heart. The reality is somewhat different. With one stroke of a pen this morning, Campbell showed his utter contempt for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club and all its fans, and proved that all his professions of love for our great club were a pack of lies. Just words. Words designed to engender love, admiration and respect from the fans that paid his wages. Today he cast all that aside and spat on every one of us.
Campbell is not – and never has been – a “Spurs Man”. No true Spurs Man would do what he did today. Can you imagine Glenn Hoddle ever signing for the Scum? Steve Perryman? Gary Mabbutt? Jimmy Greaves? Bill Nicholson? Of course you can’t. Because they all have Tottenham Hotspur in their heart and soul. Cut them in half and you’d see that they’re lilywhite through to the marrow in their bones. Campbell looked like he had what it took to join their illustrious company. Today he has shown that he’s not even fit to clean their boots.
A lot has been said about the “fickle” Tottenham fans recently. There’s a common misconception that we have turned on a man who has given us ten years loyal service just because he decided that he wanted to leave. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Nobody expects players to stay at one club for their entire career – especially not these days. Of course Campbell is entitled to leave Tottenham if he chooses. He wants to better himself, which is understandable. Even the most loyal Tottenham fan will admit that the club has underachieved over the past fifteen years or so, and that there are bigger and better career opportunities available at other clubs. But that’s not the issue here.
This is about honesty. We object to the way that Campbell (with the assistance of his ever-present agent Skylet Andrew) engineered his departure from White Hart Lane – by using every possible excuse and delaying tactic to avoid sitting down at the table to negotiate a new deal. Or to put it in layman’s terms – lying to the club and its fans for over two years about his intention to negotiate a new contract, thus allowing his current contract to expire. He was then able to leave the club that nurtured his talent and made him the player that he is today for free, with the absence of a transfer fee allowing him to pick up astronomical wages from his new club. In essence, pocketing the transfer fee for himself. But as Campbell himself said, “It’s not about money.” Of course it’s not Sol.
Campbell clearly knew what he was doing. He should have been a man and stood up and admitted it. I’m not going to lie and say I’d have been totally happy about it if he had played it straight. But at least he would have been true to us – the fans he claimed to love – by being honest about his intentions and ambitions. Hell, the club might have even picked up a transfer fee for him too. I’m honest enough to admit that I would have still been upset to see him go. But I truly believe that my respect for him as a man would have remained intact. Instead he has chosen to skulk away behind the cover of a tissue of lies to count his thirty pieces of silver. He won’t get thirty of course. Skylet’s agent’s commission must go to at least three – and maybe as much as six – pieces of silver. But it’s not about money.
Tottenham Hotspur’s new owners, ENIC, were not even given a chance to show what they could do to improve the club. Many will recall that when David Pleat became the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, he discovered upon arrival that the board had granted Glenn Hoddle’s request to leave the club. Pleat realised that Hoddle was the central figure of the Tottenham team, and envisaged disaster if he were allowed to leave just as his work had begun. Pleat asked Hoddle to stay at Tottenham for one more year – to give him time to prepare the team for Hoddle’s departure and to enable them to try and fill the huge gap he would leave. Hoddle readily agreed and stayed for one more season. Pleat was as good as his word, and allowed Hoddle to leave as promised after that season was over. Why could Campbell not have done the same thing? I can imagine the response the board would have got if they had made such a request. “What’s in it for me?” But it’s not about money.
So, here we are. Campbell has lied his way out of White Hart Lane. The disrespect that he has shown to everyone connected to Tottenham Hotspur disgusts me to the core. The deceitful and devious methods he used were bad enough. But the fact that he used them to engineer a free move to the Library is the ultimate betrayal.
Campbell will be guaranteed a hot reception whenever he returns to the Lane. And as receptions go, I am sure that it will be unprecedented in its ferocity. It has been suggested that he will take the coward’s way out and be “conveniently” injured whenever the Scum visit the Lane in future. They are next due at the Lane on November 17, and I await Campbell's decision with interest. I am eager to let him know my true feelings on the matter and as long as the ticket office co-operate; I will be there. Will you be there Sol?
Have you got the bottle?
