MACC TO THE FUTURE
Sol looks for new challenge after proving worth as boss
SOL CAMPBELL could not have had a tougher baptism in management.
But Campbell’s testing nine months in charge at Macclesfield have given him a taste for life in the hot-seat and now he wants to get straight back in with another job.
In his first sit-down interview since leaving Macclesfield, the former England defender reflected upon the miracle of staying in the Football League and how much the whole experience has improved him.
Campbell said: “It’s a different conversation now. Before it was, ‘OK, great [playing] career but let’s see what happens now’.
“I’ve shown what I’m about. Not many people can do what I did and come through it. I know I can do the job. I just want a challenge.
“I’ve shown what I can do. I don’t need a three-year contract. Give me one year and I’ll show you what I can do. I’m raring to go.”
No-one should underestimate the job that Campbell did at Macclesfield, taking over when they were seven points adrift of safety at the bottom of League Two and no-one giving him or the team a prayer of staying up.
Macclesfield’s players were either being paid late or not at all, the training ground was waterlogged and there were winding-up petitions because of an unpaid tax bill and crippling debts.
Against all the odds, Campbell defied everybody and showed how much he has to offer as a manager.
“People were doubting me and questioning whether I could bring a team together,” he said. “You turn it around, you create a spirit and you create an atmosphere where they believe they can compete and win. All from nothing. People said, ‘Do you know League Two?’ I had to be a quick learner.
“The players were broken. They had no belief and no hope. Not many clubs could escape from the state we were in.
“I had to build in fitness, training methods and the system. Some of the players weren’t being paid or being paid late. They’d get paid and all the money would be gone paying the bills.”
Campbell was also not being paid but rebuilt the team in the summer. They made a promising start and there was hope that things would improve. But when they did not, he took the decision to leave. Another winding-up petition was made against the club this week.
Campbell was an England legend who won the Double with Arsenal and was part of their Invincibles title-winning team in 2004. But that success as a player was so different to keeping Macclesfield up on the final day of last season.
“I remember being with my wife after we stayed up and just bursting out crying,” he said. “They were tears of relief. I’m an emotional guy when it comes to football.”