‘If I was white I would have been England captain for 10 years’
Former Spurs, Arsenal and Portsmouth defender won 73 England caps between 1996 and 2007
‘Michael Owen was a fantastic forward but nowhere near being a captain’
SolCampbell has branded the Football Association institutionally racist and claimed that he would have been England captain for 10 years if he had been white.The former Tottenham, Arsenal and Portsmouth defender, who won 73 caps with England, makes the claim in his autobiography, which is published later this month. In it, he says he was overlooked for the captaincy because of the colour of his skin. Campbell said: ‘I believe that if I was white I would have been England captain for 10 years. ‘I don’t think it [the situation] will change because they don’t want it. It’s all right to have a black or mixed race captain of the Under 18s or Under 21s but not for the full national side. ‘There is a ceiling and, although no one has ever said it, I believe it’s made of glass.
‘Michael Owen was made captain ahead of me and I thought, “What’s going on here?” I think the FA didn’t want me to have a voice. ‘Owen was a fantastic forward but nowhere near being a captain. I’ve asked myself many times why I wasn’t [named captain]. I keep coming up with the same answer. It was the colour of my skin.’Campbell was England captain for three friendly games in 1998 and 2005 but never received the captaincy long term.
Paul Ince and Rio Ferdinand have also captained the side in short spells and Ferdinand was captain going into the last World Cup finals under Fabio Capello – before injury ruled him out. But England have never had an established black captain. It is understood the FA is not planning to respond directly to the allegations.
Former FA executive director David Davies, who was at the organisation when Campbell was a player, said he was ‘surprised’ by the former defender’s allegations and believed they were ‘wrong’. ‘I am surprised by this because the reality is that in my time the managers selected the captain,’ he told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme. ‘I never – and to my knowledge nobody else in the FA – ever sought to influence them.
‘My belief is (the allegations) are wrong. I also have to say I am quite proud, along with a number of people of that era, of setting up (anti-discrimination campaign group) Kick It Out in football. ‘Progress was made, I would love to talk to Sol about this story and this concern and this upset he has about why he wasn’t the England captain. ‘He clearly is upset about that time and he feels that perhaps he should have been, he would believe, more seriously considered as the England captain.’
Sven-Goran Eriksson was the England manager Davies worked with most during his time in charge of the FA. Asked if the Swede had ever consulted him on who should be captain, Davies added: ‘I have no recollection of that whatsoever. ‘He added: ‘Sometimes I might have been surprised who was made the captain on particular days. I wasn’t surprised when Tony Adams was made the captain by Terry Venables. I wasn’t surprised when David Beckham was made the captain by Peter Taylor and then confirmed by Sven.’
However, it will raise the issue of race once again for English football’s governing body, following a week in which the FA disciplinary panel were criticised for accepting that Nicolas Anelka had not intended to be anti-semitic when performing the now infamous ‘quenelle’ salute after scoring for West Brom against West Ham last December.
The FA have also been criticised for the length of time it took to charge Anelka and for the leniency of a four-game ban incurred by John Terry after an FA disciplinary panel found that he had racially abused Anton Ferdinand.
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