Sol:"I don't think people at Spurs realised how big I was going to become."

[kr1978]

But I think he's trying to explain that. He felt he wasn't being treated well at Spurs. He thinks mediocre players were being paid three times as much as he was (and I've got no reason to doubt that). He felt the club was a bit of a shambles and changed manager too often. Those are all things that Arsenal were not at the time. They all seem like reasonable complaints to me from an ambitious footballer. So he went to them and he didn't really owe us a transfer fee, which reflects more on the mismanagement of Spurs at the time than it does on him.

So I think a lot of people seem pretty animated still that he left, who he left for, and the fact that he left for free (thereby leveraging his own deal upward). Sheringham said the same thing about Spurs when he went to United for a pittance - Spurs was too slap-dash and moving on for the best terms possible was a smart decision for a player.

Read the link that @MattyP put up. He just lied constantly to the us and the club. In addition it is where he went, at that stage of his career he could have pretty much picked which club he went to next and still he chose to go to Arsenal despite knowing full well what the response would be.

 

[TaoistMonkey]

Please do explain.

He continually told the club and fans that he had no intention of leaving. He then ran down his contract and left on a free transfer.

He not only lied to everyone in and out of the club, he also cheated his "beloved" club out of his transfer fee.

He fuck us once then he double fucked us going to a rival club where he knew there would be added friction.

He cares about no one but himself.

 

[jolsnogross]

But he lied, he made the club think he would sign a contract and he never did thus causing us to miss out on a transfer fee. If he had said that he wanted to leave instead of deciving the club everyone would´ve known where they stood.

He seems to be saying that he was promised he'd be the top earner at the club and so intended to sign a contract. Then he found out Sugar was lying to him and decided against it (which just added to the other issues of a slap-dash club). Even if he led the club along after that, it seems like he was just putting himself in the strongest position possible for a new deal. It certainly wouldn't have made a lot of sense to sign for Spurs and then weaken his own hand in the emerging world of free-transfer negotiations?

And it wouldn't have made sense to say I'll sign a contract but only so Spurs get a fee from Arsenal (or anyone else), who I intend to join? It's not like the subsequent years have proven that this scenario would have endeared him to Spurs - he'd have been putting his 'lying' in writing. Which is something our club seems fairly handy at too.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

We obviously never should've taken his word for it that he would sign a contract.

I don't believe for one moment that we wouldn't offer him the biggest contract at the club though. He bangs on about being on so much less than other players, but that's classic Campbell spin: he wouldn't sign a better one.

 

[jolsnogross]

He continually told the club and fans that he had no intention of leaving. He then ran down his contract and left on a free transfer.

He not only lied to everyone in and out of the club, he also cheated his "beloved" club out of his transfer fee.

He fuck us once then he double fucked us going to a rival club where he knew there would be added friction.

He cares about no one but himself.

Fair enough. I knew this but thought I'd missed something the way people were reacting.

I don't think anyone outside of Spurs would feel like he made the wrong decision in any of this. And while I was disappointed that he left and how he left, I think the club is more to blame and the player had to look out for his own short career. If anything, it's a little more honest to not sign a contract when you intend to leave, rather than sign one and have htis wink-wink relationship with the club regarding an impending sale.

He lined up a massive contract from himself with a side he went on to win titles with and go unbeaten with for a whole season. It's terrible for us, but it just highlights the disparity that existed (which has thankfully closed a bit). I'm sure Anderton and King appreciate the affection of Spurs fans, which is well deserved because they deserved better from the club. I'm also sure Campbell can brush this off while enjoying other fans' appreciation of him while he looks at his medals and footage of the quality football they played at the time.

 

[TaoistMonkey]

Fair enough. I knew this but thought I'd missed something the way people were reacting.

I don't think anyone outside of Spurs would feel like he made the wrong decision in any of this. And while I was disappointed that he left and how he left, I think the club is more to blame and the player had to look out for his own short career. If anything, it's a little more honest to not sign a contract when you intend to leave, rather than sign one and have htis wink-wink relationship with the club regarding an impending sale.

He lined up a massive contract from himself with a side he went on to win titles with and go unbeaten with for a whole season. It's terrible for us, but it just highlights the disparity that existed (which has thankfully closed a bit). I'm sure Anderton and King appreciate the affection of Spurs fans, which is well deserved because they deserved better from the club. I'm also sure Campbell can brush this off while enjoying other fans' appreciation of him while he looks at his medals and footage of the quality football they played at the time.

Ok. You don't quite get it but that's ok. At least you can get on with your life.

Everyone else thinks he's a ****

 

[MattyP]

Fair enough. I knew this but thought I'd missed something the way people were reacting.

I don't think anyone outside of Spurs would feel like he made the wrong decision in any of this. And while I was disappointed that he left and how he left, I think the club is more to blame and the player had to look out for his own short career. If anything, it's a little more honest to not sign a contract when you intend to leave, rather than sign one and have htis wink-wink relationship with the club regarding an impending sale.

He lined up a massive contract from himself with a side he went on to win titles with and go unbeaten with for a whole season. It's terrible for us, but it just highlights the disparity that existed (which has thankfully closed a bit). I'm sure Anderton and King appreciate the affection of Spurs fans, which is well deserved because they deserved better from the club. I'm also sure Campbell can brush this off while enjoying other fans' appreciation of him while he looks at his medals and footage of the quality football they played at the time.

Let's compare it to Ashley Cole. He "almost crashed his car when the gooners only offered him £55k a week", so he went and met Chelsea representatives and eventually was sold for £5m with Gallas going in the other direction as part of the deal.

You could argue that, given the trophies he has won, he made the right decision. But most people, not just gooners, think the way he went about it was out of order.

If you take that scenario, then multiply it by a factor of say 10, then that's what that judas fuckwit did to us by moving to the gooners on a free.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

The Newcastle fans certainly realised:

http://www.theweek.co.uk/football/12759/angry-‘fat-belly’-campbell-lays-newcastle-fans

 

[whitesocks]

He lined up a massive contract from himself with a side ... and go unbeaten with for a whole season.

He joined Preston NE?
They are the only team to go unbeaten in a season as far as I know.

 

[longtimespur]

The only criticism I'd have for any of them, including Sol, is that they didn't stay and lead us out of obscurity and probably over-emphasize their influence on already successful teams they left us for.

Says it all, went to better clubs. Didn't necessarily improve Sol as such,
He was a very good player for us and was missed on the pitch after he deserted.
Unfortunately he likes the limelight and can't keep out of the news.
His incomprehensible, controversial comments just open up old wounds.

 

[Coyboy]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/10/sol-campbell-conservative-party-conversation

Oh sweet Jesus.

 

[longtimespur]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/10/sol-campbell-conservative-party-conversation

Oh sweet Jesus.

If you read it, he's only looking after himself again. ,
“[Let’s have] a conversation just to see where they want to go with things,” he said. “I think something has got to be offered for me to really think about it."

Not necessarily the Tories either it seems. The "someone over the line" bit.
“I have got so much to offer. I think it is very important for the black vote. If the ‘black vote’ votes it will clearly push someone over the line. I am for getting people from my background to vote.”

 

[BuryMeInEngland]

He continually told the club and fans that he had no intention of leaving. He then ran down his contract and left on a free transfer.

He not only lied to everyone in and out of the club, he also cheated his "beloved" club out of his transfer fee.

He fuck us once then he double fucked us going to a rival club where he knew there would be added friction.

He cares about no one but himself.

100% agreement. He's just trying to rewrite history so it fits his take on things.

 

[Spurger King]

100% agreement. He's just trying to rewrite history so it fits his take on things.

Yep. Viewing things in an incredibly detached way. It's like watching your fiance leave you on your wedding day for someone she knows you hate, and saying to yourself "well I don't blame her...he's richer, better looking, has better prospects...it's my own fault really for not marrying her earlier."

You'd have to be incredibly self-loathing or ignorant not to recognise that her actions were massively out of order, and completely unforgivable. In this analogy, Joldsnogross seems to be saying "aw, look at the lovely couple...they've had some great kids, and live in a nice big house in the countryside...she was right to leave me", whilst conveniently forgetting that this was the result of a selfish and disgraceful betrayal that will forever characterise that person as nothing more than a ****.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

He cares about no one but himself.

This is basically it.

Everything he has ever done and said has been purely self-interested.

 

[Rout-Ledge]

If you read it, he's only looking after himself again. ,
“[Let’s have] a conversation just to see where they want to go with things,” he said. “I think something has got to be offered for me to really think about it."

Not necessarily the Tories either it seems. The "someone over the line" bit.
“I have got so much to offer. I think it is very important for the black vote. If the ‘black vote’ votes it will clearly push someone over the line. I am for getting people from my background to vote.”

Not to mention that fact that fighting the proposed mansion tax is the only reason he's siding with them in the first place. How's he going to sell that one to the disaffected black society of North London?

 

[VegasII]

Not this tedious bloke again. Every time he chimes up now I just shake my head and think 'what he's on about now.'

Bugger off, Sol, it's boring.

 

[longtimespur]

Not to mention that fact that fighting the proposed mansion tax is the only reason he's siding with them in the first place. How's he going to sell that one to the disaffected black society of North London?

Wiih lies as usual.

 

[worcestersauce]

I don't think he realises how big people at Spurs made him nor how much he owes them.

 

[ultimateloner]

If what Sol had said is true (that he wont be the best paid player, or a certain wage that met his expectation) then it's understandable that he left us.