I’ll stick with it at Macc says Sol
MACCLESFIELD Town manager Sol Campbell insists he won’t give up on the club – despite voicing frustration with the lack of forward-planning at the Moss Rose.
The Silkmen’s financial problems have been welldocumented in recent times, with the players recently revealing in a statement that they hadn’t been paid on time.
Campbell has now added to those woes by announcing that he also hasn’t been paid for the last two months, but he is determined to make things work.
He told Talksport: “I’m not giving up on Macclesfield. I’ll make it work, whatever way I have to. It’s so hard to get a job in football, so why would I just throw it away like that?
“I’ve worked damn hard to get into this position and I don’t want to just give it away. That isn’t me – I’m not that type of person.”
Campbell admitted he has been surprised by some of the problems behind the scenes at the club, and that it also made it tough to keep his players fully motivated throughout the campaign.
“The whole situation completely stripped me down to be quite honest. When I rocked up I was fighting so many fires – behind the scenes it was non-stop drama. I just had to be honest with the guys – all that was left was football,” he said.
“The early days in particular were very, very difficult.
“Coming into this environment I had to deal with a lot of things. There was no structure and cohesion and absolutely no foundations in place.
“We all needed each other and I understood the players’ grievances and anger. At the same time I had to remind them that their reputations were on the line: ‘Do you want to get relegated? Who wants that on their CV?’
“People don’t realise how much it takes to pick these players up, players who aren’t getting paid and because of it are more than likely getting a hard time at home.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s one pound or a thousand pounds. In the end it comes down to principle and respect. Forget the amount, it’s how you’ve been treated.
“People were thinking to themselves that this was too lowly a position for me, so can he roll his sleeves up? Does he know the league?
“Does he really want to be here as he’s used to the plush conditions that he was accustomed to as a professional footballer? The answer to that was, yes.
“What these people don’t realise is my upbringing was quite rough already. I was prepared to look past those things and roll my sleeves up, as it’s all about football for me.”
Campbell told how he had hoped to organise a pre-season training camp for the squad in Italy, but was uncertain as to whether or not the trip would be given the goahead.
“Pre-season is massively important to me because that is where you start bonding and knitting together your strategy,” he said. “You’re away from it, in the mountains, training hard and you are preparing to be able to compete for the rest of the season. I want to be successful, but I can’t be successful if everything I look at or try to do is compromised. Sometimes I don’t know why it’s compromised because it’s a new season now, a new budget.
“I’ve not been told anything, I don’t know what’s happening. I’m being professional and trying to get on with things, but I don’t know what is going on! It’s a new season and I want to be pushing on, building a foundation for the start of the season.
“What is the playing budget for next season? Are we going to sort the pitch out? I don’t know what’s happening with my wages. Where are we going to train next season? What’s going on with staff wages?
“The players need answers, so do the fans and so do I. Only then you can start planning for the future and getting your structure in place. I don’t know when I’ll get these answers though. I’m very flexible.
“If we can stay up with no budget last season then surely we could do something different next season? But don’t make it hard for the sake of being hard.
“It’s hard enough playing against other opposition – it’s almost like we’re self-harming ourselves. Let’s build for a bright future – that’s what it’s all about.
“Who knows what the future holds but all I do know is I want to leave this club in the best possible position I can when I do eventually move on.”
Campbell insisted he had no regrets in joining Macclesfield – but warned the club not to take him for granted.
“Don’t take loyalty for weakness. Some people in this world work for free for the love of the game. And that isn’t right,” he said.
“There’s tons of work to do at this football club, we need to make improvements all over the place.
“We can’t have a smoke and mirrors situation again. I need to get things organised at the end of the day.
“I don’t want to embarrass my contacts saying I’m doing this and that, but then it never happens.
“I want to do a proper job with Macclesfield, but I need to know what is going on.”
Simon Jordan, the exCrystal Palace owner who was co-hosting the Talksport show with Sam Matterface, was less than sympathetic towards Campbell.
When asked how he’d respond to a manager speaking out like that, he replied: “I’d fire him. I don’t know who he thinks he is.
“He’s been trolling around trying to get a job for a while. I don’t hear significantly good things about his coaching ability.
“He deserves credit for keeping the club in the Football League. He’s gone in there and galvanised them for a very short period of time – but that doesn’t entitle Sol Campbell to speak in that fashion. If he wants that conversation he has to have it with the guy he works for, not the national media. If he doesn’t like it, get his bag and get out of the door. He doesn’t have to stay.
“This is an advertisement for himself – if any other football club chairman in the country is listening to that, they will be sitting there thinking ‘it’s one thing to show ambition, it’s another to drag your club into the media to serve your own agenda. All I heard in that interview was ‘I, I, I’.”