Opinion Piece: Sol Campbell

The North London Derby returns today and with it all the feelings that surround it as fans of both clubs know that losing this one will be beyond painful, all the banter from the supporters pages will go into overdrive if you win it. The memes, the posts, the wind-ups between friends and family, to the victor the spoils. I enjoy it, in a good hearted way, I know there are people that go way over the top, in my opinion, it must be my age as I see some of it going too far, but each to their own.

Ive watched and read all of the build up to this, nervously, as I always do, not saying too much in case I look an idiot if we don't win. Having to take the flack from fans of Arsenal and whoever else feels like weighing in, it won't be a fun experience and it'll hurt like hell for a long time, but Ill get over it, as I always do. If we win, Ill be honest for 48hrs Ill be unbearable to anyone who supports Arsenal that I know. Its the nature of the game.

There's been interviews from celebrity fans giving their opinions, ex-players from both sides reliving their greatest moments and fondest memories. The players know what this means to both sets of fans and are stoking the flames as much as they can without going to far with it. Except one player. Sol Campbell. He did an interview with Sky about the game and he just didn't seem to get why people were so upset with him still after all these years and how he wasn't invited back to the Lane for out final game. He mentioned how it took him 4 days emotionally to get over the first game he ever played back at the Lane after his move to Arsenal, citing the abuse he got from Spurs fans as the reason for that. He came across as arrogant, selfish and believe me watch the video to see this, hurt by our reaction to him.

I know there are going to be some Arsenal fans reading this, they will be lapping it up. "Look at the sad Yido" they'll say "Still crying over Campbell after all these years. To you I say one name Van Persie, how much hatred did you have towards him when he went to Manchester United? Now times that hurt by 10 and you may just may get close to what Sol Campbell did to us.

It wasn't the fact he left, we were bloody awful back then, No money, no hope of ever winning anything again, Sol was a world class centre back, the diamond in our rough as it were. The rumours of him moving on had floated around for a few years before he went, Man Utd were after him to strengthen their defence and Arsenal too, as well as numerous European clubs as well.

For me personally and I know people will react to this adversely, I get why he left, I get he wanted to win things, we were bloody awful, no structure, underperforming players, managers changing every five minutes, Sugar selling up, the club was in turmoil. As much as it pains me to say it, he was too good for us. Football is a short career, players want to win things, to have medals too show off at the end of their careers, they want money in the bank, they want to be proud of what they achieved. Bale and Modric went to Real Madrid, we got good money for them, they went on and won things, Berbatov went to Man Utd and won league titles I get it, I really do. If someone offered you more money to do your job you’d take it, if it meant you could be more successful you’d jump at the chance and anyone who says they wouldn’t is a liar.

However football is different to a certain degree, it’s tribal in some way. You chose a club as a kid, perhaps your influenced by family, your mates or because you like a certain player and you should I know by that club through thick and thin. Perhaps we put too much into players expecting them to be like us, some that come through the ranks will always hold that club in a special place. To others it’s just an employer who pays their wages and allows them to pay their bills. To us as fans, it’s more than that and always will be and that’s why Sol Campbell is so hated at Spurs.

The problem I have with Sol Campbell is the way he left. He lied to us. Not once, but over and over again. As he entered into his final year of his contract he kept telling us he was going to sign a new one. He could see the club moving forward and he wanted to be part of it. Fans rightly or wrongly, believe what they are told. I don't believe for one moment that Sol didn't realise this and yet he kept on feeding it and feeding it. Day after day, week after week, month after month, until he finally told us he was going. To them. To Arsenal. On a free transfer.

I don't think he could have hurt the club anymore if he had tried. He had come through the youth system, he was one of us, yet he threw that all back in our faces, he made us feel used and abused. I don't believe he is a naïve man, he knew how much he had hurt us because he didn't even pose wearing their shirt when he signed for them. They had world class players, had done the double and Wenger was changing the way players looked after themselves, they were successful, whether we like it or not. It must have been tempting to go there and win things, anyone one of us would have jumped at the chance if we are honest, to better ourselves and cover ourselves in glory, to have those medals at the end of your career to look back on, it was the way he did it that sticks in my throat.

Some will say ‘what did you expect him to do?’, he should have said nothing! He could have said we’ll see where we are at, at the end of the season. That way we wouldn’t have got our hopes up, we would have grown used to the idea of him leaving us. He did none of that, he told us he was staying. That to for me is why he will never be forgiven by us and that’s what annoys him, in my opinion so much.

I was a huge Sol Campbell fan, it hurt me and to be honest I've written this four times to take my emotion out of it and also the swearing. I don't think there is any other player in the last 20 years that has caused such hatred by moving clubs. Yet he doesn't get why we are so upset, even now, after all these years. Watching that interview he came across as extremely arrogant about it all, he listed the things he had achieved at Arsenal, at what he had won, and even after all of the he spoke of how upset he was with the reception he got every time he played at the Lane or against us.

That to me says more about him than it does about us. I was bought up to know the difference between right and wrong, but also to know that your word should be your bond, that you should always tell the truth no matter how much it hurts you to do so. Sol Campbell did none of those things, and even after all these years he blames us, the fans, and doesn't have the courage to look in the mirror and say " I handled that all wrong, I should have told them the truth no matter how upset they got, I should have explained that I wanted to win things and that I wasn't going to happen at the Lane at that time, I should have done it differently" but he wont, hes too arrogant and wrapped up in himself, blaming us for what went on rather than looking at the cause of the problem which was his actions.

I don't condone the effigy's, the racist chants, the hurling of objects at him either. People took it too far. Saying that though I get the anger and hurt that those people felt, they felt betrayed by one of their own, by their captain, their leader, the one person they all looked up to. That anger and hatred will never subside for some of us, and it isn't helped by Sol doing interviews like he did this week, dragging it all up again and rubbing it in about what he won. He genuinely lacks class.

When you leave this world all you leave behind are memories, good or bad, we hope, because that is all we can do is hope, that people remember us fondly, that we meant something to someone. You hope that your integrity shone through, that you did the right thing at the right time, no matter how hard it was or who you hurt. For me Sol Campbell is a man lacking in integrity and honesty. I didn't begrudge him his success, I begrudge the way he went about it and still does to this day. It is obviously not enough for him to be adored by Arsenal fans for what he achieved there, it obviously still gets to him how we don’t like him.

Sol you could have been welcomed back the day we said goodbye to the old lane, like Pat Jennings was, who played for both clubs, but you weren't, and the fact that this still upsets you makes me smile a little, because the hurt you felt that day, the fact that we erased you from our history, on our most important day in years is exactly what you deserved for the way you treated us. When the history of our great club is written by newer supporters long after I’m gone, your name still won’t be there because you showed us what type of man you really were. You lacked integrity and honesty towards the people who worshipped and supported you, and that Sol Campbell will always be your legacy at Spurs. It’s what you deserve.