Sol Campbell : Racism will force me to be a manager abroad

Sol Campbell training.

Former Arsenal centre back Sol Campbell feels that to fulfill his coaching ambitions he will have to engineer a move abroad due to the existing racial prejudices that exist in the country, describing attitudes to black footballers here ‘archaic’.

Campbell who also represented England on a number of occasions is in the formative stages of gaining a Uefa’s A license – the second highest qualification that someone can get after the pro-license which he is currently pursuing. This involves him to attend and share classes with 23 other people, one of these happening to be his former Arsenal team mate Patrick Viera.

Campbell would later speak in bitter and rather sad tones about how he ultimately feels he will have to begin life as a coach overseas as “there are no opportunities” for him in this country due to a combination of racial prejudice and a relationship with the English Football Association that he describes as “broken”.

“I want to start abroad,” said the 39-year-old in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. “There are no opportunities for me here, not until attitudes change anyway. Everyone has to ask themselves why there are not more black managers in this country and why the likes of [former Sheffield United striker] Brian Deane have to go abroad [to Sarpsborg 08 in Norway] to get a chance. I’ve spoken to other black players who want to coach and they feel the same, that attitudes here are archaic. I hope and pray the environment changes.”

“Personally, I’m a big fan of the way Brazil have traditionally played – two centre-halves, one protective midfielder and two full-backs bombing on. That’s a style of play that is all about winning and that’s what I’m about – I’m in it to win it, not mucking about and going for the draw.”

Given the surroundings, there is an obvious question: what about a coaching role with Arsenal? “You never know,” Campbell replied. “This is a fantastic club and it would be a great place to work. That is something I would definitely consider once I have my badges, and provided they were willing to have me.”