Arsenal and Spurs legend Sol Campbell keeping it real to get Macclesfield off the bottom of the Football League
SOL CAMPBELL walks across a boggy Cheshire pitch picking up bibs, cones and balls while snow falls as he clears up after a Macclesfield training session.
You would think this is a come-down for a former England star who had a glitzy career at Arsenal, Tottenham and Portsmouth.
“No, I love it,” he tells me. “This sieves out who really wants it.”
His players are trudging off to where doping control officials await to test them. Campbell yells out: “I hope you’ve been living right. I pray for you.”
He had just been watching his old pal and England team-mate Andy Cole wrap up training by taking shooting practice.
“C’mon, I want to see that net f***ing bulging,” Campbell cries as one of his squad misses the target.
“Andy does a couple of days with us,” adds Campbell. “The players are getting sharper with him around.”
Campbell, 44, earlier refereed an 11-a-side game, often whistling to halt play when unhappy with something.
He trots to a defender and simulates to the group how he should have positioned himself and shaped his body. He is forthright and vocal.
Jose Mourinho recently revealed how a Manchester United star took exception to being critiqued in front of team-mates.
I ask former centre-half Campbell if he must be careful not to be over-critical of League Two players who will never get anywhere near the heights he reached.
He says: “You’ve got to be able to air what you’ve seen. We’re a team. You can’t just have five private conversations in fear of offending someone.
"I’m a football manager, not a counsellor. When you’re on the training pitch, or it’s half-time, you’ve not got time.
“After a match or training, I can chat to people individually and sometimes I hold things back.”
So is he the good or bad cop at Macclesfield? “I’m neither, I’m just real,” he replies. “Players need to see the balance — when you’re happy, when you’re upset.
“As a manager, you must adjust accordingly. Even if it’s not going well, it’s sometimes good to be encouraging.
"You must view the bigger picture — you can’t just look at the game now but the ones after too.
“You have to pick the guys up, get them better, keep them focused. You can’t keep hammering them.”
Campbell has won five, drawn three and lost five of his 13 league matches in charge — lifting the Silkmen off the foot of the table.
He has implemented overnight travel before away games and says: “The players were sat on a coach for a few hours travelling on the day of matches.
“That’s not good for the muscles, they get stiff. So I’ve managed to persuade the club to pay for staying at a hotel.
“It’s better preparation. Even when we’re at home, I’m getting the boys who live a distance away to stay up the night before.”
On the field, they have kept four clean sheets on his watch. Prior to his arrival, they had only kept one.
But the work started off the field. Campbell says: “I’ve brought a structure.
"The players had got used to doing whatever they wanted because they didn’t have a rudder, someone to tell them this is the way to go.
“There is flexibility but there’s no doing what you want now.”
Campbell played at three World Cups and two European Championships — but managing in these humble surroundings takes him back to his East London roots.
And he believes top, young players, who get paid fortunes before they have achieved anything, should be exposed to the same reality as those in League Two.
He says: “At this level, I must do a lot of things myself — like putting out the cones, moving the goalposts during training, clearing up after sessions.
“Why not get our top young footballers doing that? I’d make the Under-23s and youth players do chores.
“We should get them back doing proper work — cleaning the balls, pumping them up, collecting the equipment, cleaning boots, being ball-boy at reserve matches.
“A — they get to see football and learn. B — they’re more in touch with the tools of their trade. And C — it’s a nice little come down, a reality check.
"They should find a way to do that again, although nowadays it’s probably against EU workers’ rights or something!”
So what is the biggest difference between a League Two and Premier League footballer?
“There’s a certain skill level,” he admits. “But mainly it’s the decision making — being able to make the right decision at the right time.
“But there are players here who can reach a high standard if they listen, switch on and look after themselves.”
Campbell loves the quieter, closer-knit surroundings of the lower echelons. He lives a short drive from the training ground in Knutsford and gets about in a loan car from the club — a BMW X6.
He adds: “I’m hoping to get a place here soon so my family can stay longer and the dog can run around because there’s so much countryside here.
“Manchester is on the doorstep but I don’t really go there. I’ve already got London, I don’t need any more noise!
“Here is perfect. I’m content. I get my head down, work hard. I’m really happy.”
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