Sol Campbell Exit Should Not Have Been a Surprise

Former England star Sol Campbell has sensationally quit Notts County after just one game, but his actions shouldn’t really have come as a surprise.

Only last month Campbell agreed a five-year deal worth a reported £40,000-a-week, but after just four weeks at Meadow Lane and one outing the 35-year-old has called it a day.

His debut in the 2-1 defeat at Morecambe on Saturday wasn’t a great start to life in the bottom tier of the English football league and afterwards he went to manager Ian McParland to ask to be let go from his contract.

The apparent reasons for his decision - broken promises over the level of investment in players and facilities.

But what quite did Campbell expect?

Swiss-based Munto Finance - who are being probed by the Football League - have spent big in a bid to get County out of League Two, but success won’t happen overnight.

And Magpies fans might well have been entitled to have seen Campbell in a black and white shirt at least once (he wore the blue away shirt at Morecambe), but looking back at his career he has not been a stranger to controversy.

After becoming a Spurs legend the defender is probably best known as the biggest ‘traitor’ in English football after his switch to North London rivals Arsenal.

And then in his time with the Gunners he once famously walked out of Highbury at half-time after being substituted during Arsenal’s defeat to West Ham in 2006.

There were murmurings of difficulties in his personal life before and three years later he decided to join County on the lowest rung of the league ladder.

And to make matters worse he then declared his aim to get into Fabio Capello’s England World Cup squad after his arrival in Nottingham.

“I would love to be in that World Cup squad for South Africa next year. Why not? It’s not as if I’m suddenly not going to be playing well,” said Campbell.

Delusional would be one way to describe a player who was unable to stop Morecambe journeymen Jim Bentley and Paul Mullin from registering at the weekend.