Sol Campbell blames Tottenham for ‘framing him’ before controversial transfer
Sol Campbell has now opened up on the circumstances that led to his switch from Tottenham Hotspur to Arsenal, with the centre-back accusing the then-Spurs hierarchy, headed by Alan Sugar, of trying to take advantage of him.
Former Tottenham academy graduate and captain, Sol Campbell, has never been forgiven by Spurs fans for deciding to run his contract down and sign for Arsenal in 2001.
24 years on from that move, the 50-year-old remains public enemy number one for Spurs fans, with unflattering chants being heard about him at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on a regular basis.
Sol Campbell has previously accused Tottenham fans of treating him unfairly, and the former England man has now opened up on what went on behind the scenes ahead of his decision to leave White Hart Lane.
Sol Campbell says Tottenham tried to take advantage of him
Campbell has now revealed that there were legal proceedings that followed a bust-up in a game against Derby County, where he was wrongly accused of having assaulted a steward.
He alleged that Tottenham Hotspur colluded to try and get him charged so that they could retain him for a less expensive contract.
When asked about the reason for his exit from Spurs, Campbell said on The Overlap: “The main thing for me was that they never paid the youngsters who grew up proper money. If someone is bought in, they’d put him on big money, but players coming up through the ranks who would be the future of the club, they wouldn’t want to pay them. It was bizarre.
“Going forward, it was four years [my contract]. The next four years was a difficult moment, because I was moving up in the right direction and my contract was winding down.
“The thing for me was that I had a problem in a particular game which lingered on for 15 months, and it all started from a game against Derby County away, with two years left [on my contract].
“The problem was that you had Colin Calderwood, who was playing alongside me, and he was having a barney all day long in the game against [Francesco] Baiano, and I didn’t know why. I scored the winner, game finished 1-0, everyone was happy, and I’ve gone off the pitch. As I’m walking into our changing room, he [Colin] runs past me and jumps into the Derby County changing room, looking for Baiano.
“So, everyone’s jumped in, and I’ve said, ‘F*** him, whatever, let’s get back into the changing room.’ I said it three times. Three weeks later, David Pleat comes to me and says I’ve got a letter saying that someone [a steward from Derby County] has broken their arm or wrist, and I said, ‘What, what do you mean? I’ve done nothing’ – I went in [to the changing room after the game].
“Three weeks later, it goes on and on and the steward who broke his wrist is looking to press charges. I was thinking, what is going on here as I’d done nothing. So, it rolls on and on, I’ve got affidavits and people have got to come in for character witnesses, and then I got drafted up there – I’m in the Derby police station, it’s a mess.
“I’m then getting fingerprinted, and my picture taken and at the same time there is people asking me for autographs. I was thinking, ‘Am I getting arrested for something I’ve not done?’ That went on for 15 months and I was thinking why it went on for so long because I’d not done anything.
“Just before the case, I had an internal lawyer [from Tottenham] who said there was a snippet, a Lord getting bound over. I said, ‘What do you mean getting bound over?” Bound over means you admit it, pay a fine, and it all goes away.
“But I said I wouldn’t do it, I live and die by my words – I’ve not done anything. I left it, things go on and the case is about a month away and Tottenham say they’re pulling out – pulling out funding, not paying for anything, so I had to pay for everything.
“My lawyers start looking through all the paperwork and couldn’t understand how it had all gone on for such a long time because [someone said] you’re in front [during the incident], another person said you were on the side – it was all over the place so how had it gone on for such a long time?
“Ten days before the case, they drop out and the case is dropped. In the paperwork, there was an old fax when they’d sent it to me and back in the day you saw a name scrubbed out and then a Derby County player put in there.
“I was supposed to have done this [incident] at ten-to-five, but on the hospital report he’d [the steward] had done it at half-past-ten, pre-match. He’d done it [broken his arm or wrist] pre-match.”
When asked if the Spurs chiefs knew that the steward had suffered his injury before the game, Campbell added: “Either the hierarchy did or the lawyers. It was trying to get one over me, so if it came out, I’d sign a crap deal. I think it was all about the deal.
“They wanted to get one over me or have leverage over me. It’s like Virgil van Dijk going through his contract situation now, trying to pin something on him now – it’s the same thing. Once that happened [the legal incident], I didn’t have time for that [signing a new contract] – they literally tried to put me away for no reason.
“You start thinking to yourself about how people are innocent and get put away for something they hadn’t done. For me, going around to banks or wherever, people look at me and think I’ve bust someone’s wrist, but it was someone else, a South American player.
“It’s sad, it’s unbelievable. You’re a young boy, coming out, and they’re trying to pin that on you.”
Campbell speaks about his decision to join Arsenal
The 50-year-old insisted that his decision to join Tottenham’s fierce rivals was not motivated by reason, but admitted that he had no love lost for the Lilywhites after that incident.
When asked what pushed him to sign for Arsenal, Campbell revealed: “For me, the episode of trying to frame me for no reason, that really governed my decision, and I wanted to win.”
When asked if he made the move to get back at Spurs, he responded: “Not revenge, but when you look at it, I’d been done over for no reason. I hadn’t decided where I was going but my mindset shifted after that.”
READ MORE: Defender reveals he cried with regret after leaving Tottenham
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