Door not closed on Campbell, says Duff
OUT-OF-FAVOUR striker Tahvon Campbell still has a future at Cheltenham Town according to manager Michael Duff.
The 23-year-old striker, signed from Forest Green Rovers in the summer of 2019, has made eight starts and six substitute appearances for the Robins, but has not played this season and has struggled to make the 18-man matchday squad.
He was overlooked again on Tuesday night for the Papa Johns Trophy game with Norwich U23s, as teenager Callum Ebanks made the bench ahead of him, and came on for his first-team debut.
“Tahv knows he has to go and play football,” said Duff. “That’s been the situation since January. He comes in every day and works hard and that’s fine.
“He knows what he has to do to change my opinion, the ball is in his court.
“He needs to go out on loan. This has been the case for a long time and we’ve told him what we think. It doesn’t always happen.
“Alex Addai was nearly out the door, Ben Tozer and Conor Thomas the same when I first came in.
“I am not stubborn enough to think that I might have made a bad decision, but he has to go out and prove and go on loan and it’s not to prove himself right, if it’s to prove me wrong, it’s to prove me wrong.
“He needs a run of games and to score some goals.
“At the minute I can’t promise him that in the team, where we are at the minute, so the only way he can change it is by doing that.
“If he doesn’t want to do it, that’s fine. I have no problems.
“He is a great lad who works hard and is no problem in training, so as long as that respect is there, that’ll always be the case. Is the door closed? Absolutely not.
Duff would not reveal if Campbell had turned down loan moves: “That’s not something I am prepared to get involved in. The decision is with him and we’ll leave it at that.”