David Campbell (footballer)
Encyclopedia
David Anthony Campbell (born 2 June 1965 in Eglington
Eglinton, County Londonderry
Eglinton is a village in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies east of Derry, to which it serves as a sleeper village, and west of Limavady. Many inhabitants of the village work in Derry city and send their children to school there. Eglinton had a population of 3,165 people in the 2001...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
) is a former Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
international footballer who played in the midfield position.
Born in Eglinton, just outside Derry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...
, Campbell’s playing career took off at local intermediate side, Oxford United Stars FC. From there he moved on to Nottingham Forest as an apprentice in June 1981, picking up Northern Ireland youth caps along the way, before signing professional forms at the City Ground
City Ground
The City Ground is a football stadium in the West Bridgford area of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898, and has a capacity of 30,602 ....
in June 1983.
At Forest, Campbell’s route to a regular first team midfield spot was always going to be difficult, especially with young English talent such as Neil Webb
Neil Webb
Neil John Webb is an English former footballer and television pundit. He played as a midfielder and defender between 1980 and 1997 notably for Portsmouth, Nottingham Forest and Manchester United...
and Steve Hodge
Steve Hodge
Stephen Brian Hodge is a retired English footballer who enjoyed a high-profile club and international career in the 1980s and 1990s.- Playing career :...
also battling to establish themselves. As it was, Campbell did admirably to break into the Forest team for the second half of the 1985-86 season, enjoying a run of 27 consecutive Division One appearances through to the following season.
It was Campbell’s impressive First Division form that prompted Billy Bingham
Billy Bingham
William Laurence "Billy" Bingham, MBE is a former international footballer and football manager. He is currently a scout for English Football League Championship side Burnley....
to call him up as Northern Ireland searched for the right squad mix to take to the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. Campbell made his international bow as a sub in the pre-World Cup warm-up game with Morocco
Morocco national football team
The Morocco national football team , nicknamed أسود الأطلس , is the national team of Morocco and is managed by Eric Gerets. Winners of the African Nations Cup in 1976, they were the first African team to win a group at the World Cup, which they did in 1986, finishing ahead of Portugal, Poland, and...
, and did enough to earn a place in the finals’ squad. His first start for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
was against Brazil
Brazil national football team
The Brazil national football team represents Brazil in international men's football and is controlled by the Brazilian Football Confederation , the governing body for football in Brazil. They are a member of the International Federation of Association Football since 1923 and also a member of the...
at the finals, but he could do little to prevent a 3-0 defeat in the Guadalajara
Guadalajara, Jalisco
Guadalajara is the capital of the Mexican state of Jalisco, and the seat of the municipality of Guadalajara. The city is located in the central region of Jalisco in the western-pacific area of Mexico. With a population of 1,564,514 it is Mexico's second most populous municipality...
sun.
On returning from Mexico, Campbell’s continued good form brought him impressive press, his skills on the ball allowing him to twist and turn his way into the opposition’s penalty area. Here though lay the problem, once in these dangerous positions he would often lose the plot, blasting wildly goalwards, or fluffing the easy pass, and Brian Clough
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. He is most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. His achievement of winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, a traditionally moderate provincial English club, is considered to be...
took the decision to drop him. In February 1987 Campbell was loaned to Forest’s Third Division
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
neighbours, Notts County, where he regained his confidence for another attack on the Forest first eleven. Indeed, the following season began brightly with Campbell forcing his way back into the team, but it was clear that Clough still was not confident in the youngster, and he was sold to Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
for £75,000 in October 1987.
On the international front, Campbell continued as a regular, playing in every one of Northern Ireland’s Euro 1988 qualification matches. By the end of the campaign though, Billy Bingham
Billy Bingham
William Laurence "Billy" Bingham, MBE is a former international footballer and football manager. He is currently a scout for English Football League Championship side Burnley....
was looking for more reliable players who would suit his preferred style of play, and Campbell found himself making way for the likes of Michael O'Neill
Michael O'Neill (footballer)
Michael Andrew Martin O'Neill is a former Northern Irish international association football player, who is now the manager of Shamrock Rovers.-Playing career:...
and Kevin Wilson. He made his final international appearances as substitute in the friendlies against Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
early in 1988.
From then on, Campbell’s career as a wandering professional began. A loan spell with Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...
in March 1989 was a cut short to allow a £75,000 move to Bradford City
Bradford City A.F.C.
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, playing in League Two....
. He lasted a year-and-a-half in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
before returning home to Derry City FC on loan in December 1990 making 5 appearances, and then to Shamrock Rovers a month later http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1991/0115/Pg016.html#Ar01607:28A5373105662855C22C55D72635E02A35F52546C22956D82555C227B5D7 – a move that later became permanent. He made his Rovers debut in a 4-0 win home win against Cork City on January 20, 1991. Whilst with Rovers, Campbell gained an Inter-League cap in a 2-0 defeat by the Irish League
IFA Premiership
The IFA Premiership – formerly the Irish Premier League, and before that the Irish Football League–and still known in popular parlance simply as the Irish League, is the national football league in Northern Ireland, and was historically the league for the whole of Ireland. Clubs in the league are...
at Tolka Park
Tolka Park
Tolka Park is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne...
in November 1991. After 6 goals in 42 appearances, the last against St. Pats in the FAI Cup
FAI Cup
The Football Association of Ireland Challenge Cup, known as the FAI Ford Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland...
on February 16, 1992, Campbell had a loan spell with Cliftonville FC (February 1992), non-contract spells at Rotherham
Rotherham
Rotherham is a town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Don, at its confluence with the River Rother, between Sheffield and Doncaster. Rotherham, at from Sheffield City Centre, is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the wider Metropolitan Borough of...
(November 1992) and West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion F.C.
West Bromwich Albion Football Club, also known as West Brom, The Baggies, The Throstles, Albion or WBA, are an English Premier League association football club based in West Bromwich in the West Midlands...
(February 1993), an injury ravaged year with Burnley FC (from March 1993) and a brief loan spell at Lincoln (February 1994). In March 1994 Ronnie McFaul brought Campbell to Portadown FC as they pushed, ultimately unsuccessfully, for a domestic double, eventually finishing Irish League runners-up to Linfield FC and losing in the Irish Cup semi-final to Bangor FC.
A new beginning seemed on the horizon when Campbell was signed on a non-contract basis by Kenny Swain for Wigan Athletic in August 1994, but with Swain dismissed with just a month of the season gone, Campbell found himself released in October after just seven games. He signed for Cambridge United
Cambridge United F.C.
Cambridge United Football Club is a professional football club from Cambridge, England. They are currently playing the 2011-2012 season in the Conference National, the fifth tier of the English league system, where they have competed since 2005 following their relegation from the Football League...
to the end of the season the following January, and made his debut against Brentford. It proved to be a miserable game, with Cambridge losing 6-0 (it had been scoreless at half-time), and Campbell suffering a broken leg which forced his retirement as a professional footballer.
He later moved into the area of running summer soccer schools for youngsters throughout the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.