The big man usually keeps his lip buttoned and his guard held high. Sol Campbell has the imposing aura of a great fighter who no one really knows, a cool and slightly aloof figure accustomed to grand but largely meaningless descriptions of him as ”The Rock” or ”an enigma”.
Yet in person, alone with him in a bare white-walled room, he soon emerges as the opposite of impassive or mysterious.
Whether revealing the depth of feeling he and his Arsenal team-mates harbour against Manchester United or uncovering some more private yearning, Campbell is expressive and engaging company. Although Arsenal again lost to their northern nemesis this week — when a below-par performance from Campbell ended in him leaving the pitch with an injured ankle — it is the loss in Manchester that sparks the fire.
That bleak October afternoon for Arsenal — when their historic 49-match unbeaten streak was ended at Old Trafford amid raging acrimony — still rankles with Campbell. Arsenal were so obviously affected by defeat that a five-point lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premiership has since been replaced by a 10-point deficit.
”It had a psychological impact on us,” he concedes, ”but again because of the way we were defeated. That was far more upsetting, losing like that, because they just seem to get away with it. You try and tell yourself that these things balance out over the course of a season, but I’ve had so many rough decisions against them you begin to wonder …”
In 2003, with the title race on a knife edge, Campbell’s swinging arm caught Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The United striker went down as if shot. Campbell was sent off, the game was drawn and Arsenal’s disappointment was magnified by his subsequent suspension for three crucial Premiership matches and the FA Cup final. Their defence, so fragile without him, blew a 2-0 lead and the championship against Bolton.
In the next clash between Arsenal and United, a supposedly innocuous Community Shield opener, a brush between Campbell and Eric Djemba-Djemba resulted in video evidence, a charge of improper conduct and ultimately a £20 000 fine for the Arsenal centre-back.
And after the notorious 2003 battle between the teams at Old Trafford, when Ruud van Nistelrooy missed a last-minute penalty, this season’s conflict in Manchester was sparked by yet another disputed spot-kick — after Wayne Rooney tumbled over Campbell’s outstretched leg. ”It does add up, doesn’t it?” Campbell says with a tight smile.
I ask him if he believes United’s power and wealth still exert some malign force on match officials. ”Are referees …” I say before he butts in with a blunt word of his own. ”Scared. I think maybe they’re scared — especially at United’s place. I know all teams have an advantage at home, but United get so many decisions at Old Trafford.”
Before Tuesday’s game at Highbury, Sir Alex Ferguson raised the fevered temperature when he branded Arsenal ”the worst losers of all time” and declared that Arsène Wenger was ”a disgrace” who had supposedly challenged him to a physical confrontation. ”I’m not saying this to wind the game up,” the United manager claimed. ”I’m saying it to protect my club.”
Campbell rolls his eyes. ”After you’ve been in football a while you realise those kind of comments just come out of [Ferguson’s] mouth. It’s best to concentrate on your own game.”
Nevertheless Arsenal, and even the once-implacable Wenger, have been badly diverted. ”It’s just more bitter and personal against United,” Campbell says. ”There’s an edge. Maybe a little of the old north-south divide as well.”
He retreats briefly into sphinx-like mode when I ask what happened in the Old Trafford tunnel. Did Wenger really charge at Ferguson with raised arms and the Gallic equivalent of a ”Do you want some, pal?” invitation. ”I didn’t see nothing. I was in the changing room. Situations get whipped up so it’s best to leave that one.”
The enduring spat between Arsenal and United can seem curiously anachronistic when set against Chelsea’s new dominance. Campbell winces at the transfer of Arsenal’s ”invincible” tag to west London.
”We had that strength last season and now it’s their turn. It’s frustrating. I missed pre-season and then I’ve been out injured a couple of times. It pisses me off when I hear people saying things about my team and I’m stuck on the sidelines. And then coming back, after not having my usual training, I’ve not defended so well. This season has been too stop-start for me.”
A lack of reliable cover at the heart of defence has obviously undermined the champions — as have their goalkeeping frailties. Yet even Campbell cannot unravel the whole mystery of Arsenal’s vulnerability — especially at set pieces.
”It’s not a lack of confidence because we’re basically the same team who were fantastic last year. Who knows? It just happens sometimes. After losing at Bolton this month we sat down and said, ‘What’s going wrong?’ Our urgency and concentration was raised.
”Instead of allowing it to just slip away we decided to fight. In our next game, against Newcastle, we had a different presence. Even though the score was only 1-0 we could have scored six — but Shay Given was incredible. That was a sign of it coming together for us.”
He nevertheless virtually concedes that the title is heading across town. ”Unless something dramatic happens it’s hard to see Chelsea blowing it. It’s not worth hoping any more — not in the sense of worrying whether they’re going to drop points. We have to think about our own game as there’s still a lot to play for in the Champions League and FA Cup. Winning the Champions League would still be the best possible outcome of all.”
Though Arsenal will need to improve radically on their European performances if they are to achieve that hazy dream, Campbell describes signing a new four-year contract, on a reduced wage, as an ”easy decision”.
It is a measure of Campbell’s intelligence and assurance that he has already decided on his next big move. ”I’m 30 now and in five years’ time I won’t be in this country. That’s definite. Italy looks good to me because it would suit my kind of football. Spain is an option. But the idea of tasting a new culture, and learning another language, excites me the most. I’m starting a little with French.”
”How’s the accent?” I ask. ”Très chic?”
”Not really,” Campbell laughs shyly. ”I know lots of individual words but I need to go live in a country so I’m forced to learn a language properly. I’m actually embarrassed when I see guys at Arsenal talking so many different languages. The older you get the more conscious you become of how little you really know.
”People assume that footballers don’t want to improve themselves, but that’s absurd. Whether it’s languages or design or architecture, I want to find out more. History most of all — because I was denied that knowledge when I was young. I never felt much opportunity and now I want to educate myself. I want to go to new places and learn new things.”
Campbell talks so openly and passionately, and laughs so easily, that I ask why he appears so different in public. Is his inscrutable image a purposely constructed device to keep the outside world at bay? Has he been hurt by incessant media speculation about his private life?
”It’s not a case of being rebellious or defensive,” he insists. ”It’s more to do with my past. When you come from such a huge family [he is one of 12 children] you’re always struggling to find a space for yourself. As a kid there was no privacy or time to be alone. A simple half-hour in an empty house was bliss to me. It hardly ever happened.
”That’s why I’m happier chilling out at home now. I’m past that stage of needing a big night out. I like being at home or going to a quiet restaurant with my friends — or maybe a nice bar which is tucked away and where you can have a decent conversation.”
He is also different to most Premiership players in the way he talks about acting as a possible future beyond football. But he is determined to avoid Vinnie Jones’s quick route to Hollywood via a couple of hardman roles in mediocre gangster flicks.
”I think it’s better to disappear for a couple of years and simply learn how to act in real workshops. I’ve already been offered some obvious parts and turned them down. I want to go down the workshop track because I know how much it’s going to take to become a good actor. It’ll also be a test for me to tell if I’m going to like it.”
He reveals he has already done some ”low-key” but ”draining” workshops and I can’t resist asking how he coped when instructed to be a tree or braying donkey or whatever else one has to do as a drama student these days. ”If no one knows you,” he grins, ”it’s quite easy to let yourself go.”
Yet, for a footballer as famous as Campbell, anonymity is surely hard to find? ”I’ve done it abroad — like Morocco where no one knows me. America is free and easy, too. I couldn’t act in workshops in England while playing football. That’s why I’m leaving [acting] alone for the moment.
”Of course lots of actors are actually running away from who they really are — but if you do it well you need to dig deep into yourself. I’ve had a lot of emotion in my life and I can tap into that. But emotion is not enough to make you a good actor. You’ve got to learn how to express it.”
He admits that ”if they see me talking like this in the paper the lads are going to jump on it and have a laugh. But a lot of Arsenal guys are interested in all kinds of things. They love football, and they love winning, but they also know there’s a big world out there. They share my interest in life beyond football. We’ll see what happens in a few years.” — Â