Sol Campbell Shows David Beckham How It’s Done

By: Daryl | September 23rd, 2009

Notts County are in the news again. The English League Two club were bought by billionaires, installed Sven Goran Eriksson as director of football, and had a five year plan that involved signing 34 (now 35) year old Sol Campbell on a five year, £40k per week deal.

But just one game into that five year deal, Sol Campbell has decided he wants out. Would be easy to mock Campbell’s flip-flop, and it’s certainly an odd decision. But compare Campbell’s situation at Notts County with David Beckham’s at LA Galaxy, where Goldenballs has spent the last twelve months saying he wants to stay but acting very much like he wants to leave.

Campbell realized he’d made a mistake by joining a League Two club while he could still play at a higher level, and acted quickly to get out before he was in too deep. And to there credit, Notts County realized that nothing good could come of holding Campbell against his will. Here’s the statement from County exec chairman Peter Trembling:

“While we are disappointed that Sol felt that he could not adjust to the long-term nature of the project underway at Notts County, we obviously wish him the best with the remainder of his career and hope that he is able to obtain a place where he can play at international level ahead of the 2010 World Cup.

“The investment project is on track; we’ve brought in a lot of new players and resources into the Club, but obviously this is a five-year project, not a five-week one. For any fan that bought a new Notts’ shirt and had ‘Campbell’ printed on the back, I am pleased to offer a voucher for the club shop for a replacement shirt.”

And that’s the end of that.

If only Beckham’s seemingly inevitable escape from LA Galaxy had been so simple. Obviously it would have involved printing a lot (an awful lot) more vouchers, but at least it would have been honest.