Former Player Remembers: Stuart Campbell

Relaxing after a midday meal with his team, Stuart, who made 51 appearances for Leicester City between 1996 and 2000, began by reflecting on the season so far. 

“The coverage of the Premier League in America is phenomenal. On a Saturday morning, the minute you open your eyes you have got the early game. Then you have a choice at one o’clock and then you have the night game. I watch Leicester City whenever they are on TV. 

“I can’t believe where Leicester are now. I was in the crowd at King Power Stadium for the game against Newcastle. The atmosphere was terrific. When Leicester scored you could feel the stadium moving and bouncing! I like the clap banners. We are taking some back with us to Tampa! I was amazed at the team’s work ethic, and the intensity. You can see the togetherness as well. You can see a lot of things when you watch a game live which you don’t see on TV. For example, when a mistake happens, you can see the players rallying round each other. They might have a go at each other but then, in the next breath, they are encouraging each other and that’s a sign of a great team. You can see as a group they clearly get on. Something has clearly clicked. They don’t let people get away with anything but then equally they are just as quick to pat each other on the back. The camaraderie looks good. I can see them all socialising and hanging about together. Martin O’Neill’s side was very similar. I thought it was funny at the Newcastle game when the Leicester fans were singing, “We are staying up!” That is brilliant and good for the players. 

“Leicester City has captured the imagination, not just of the USA, but of the whole world. At the beginning of this season, American TV pundits were calling the team ‘Li-Chester City’. But this season, after the phenomenal coverage they are getting, everyone now knows it is Leicester City, pronounced properly! It had become so monotonous with Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea dominating. Leicester has really shaken this up. It has been great for sport in general. If someone wrote this story in a book or magazine, you would say it was too far-fetched. I sincerely hope that Leicester can win it. I really, really do. 

“I have nothing but good and positive thoughts when I think of Leicester City. I spent ten years there. I was born in Corby and played for Corby and Kettering Schools. A Leicester City scout approached myself and my dad about having a trial at Leicester. I went over there with another team mate, had a trial and then went to act as a ball boy for a game against Stoke City. That was the first time I met Alan Birchenall. He made me do push ups for having my hands in my pockets. I was about 11 years of age. He made it very clear that even as a ball boy, if City were winning, you take your time! 

“I went through the school boy ranks. I signed schoolboy papers when I was about 12 along with a certain Emile Heskey and Stuart Wilson. We had a real good team of local lads that was together for a number of years. When we turned 16, a lot us became YTS apprentices under Tony McAndrew and Kevin MacDonald. 

“I’d just finished school, and moved from Corby to a house on Aylestone Road to live with Mr and Mrs Geddes along with 8 or 9 other non-local young players from all over the country. It was hard. At first I was homesick. We were allowed to go home every weekend. I’m not sure whether that was a good or a bad thing. At one point I had decided I wanted to leave and go home, but my family told me to stick it out because otherwise I would have passed on the chance of a life time. 

“I progressed into the reserves. I turned professional when I was 18 under Martin O’Neill. A lot of our youth team made it. My debut was when I came on as a sub in a League Cup game at Scarborough (in Sept 1996).” 

Stuart’s Premier League debut was against Manchester United at Old Trafford in November 1996. 

“I didn’t realise I would be playing until Martin O’Neill told me at five minutes to 2 o’clock. I was a Manchester United fan. I’m named Stuart Pearson Campbell after the United forward Stuart Pearson, the first goalscorer in the 1977 FA Cup Final against Liverpool.(Stuart was born in 1977). 

“We got to the ground at about 1.30pm. My room-mate was Stuart Wilson. We were staying, as two 18 year-olds in the Mottram Hotel in Manchester. We had the biggest English breakfast you could imagine. Then we had a big lunch as a pre-match meal. Then we stuffed our pockets with all the sweets in Reception. We certainly weren’t expecting to play. 

“Martin never named his team until just before two o clock. We all sat down in the changing room after having been on the pitch. He said, ‘Stuart, I bet you’d love to play here today wouldn’t you?’ Terrified I said, ‘Yes Gaffer'. He then said, ‘Alright. You are playing’. The whole dressing room burst out laughing. He may have pre-warned some of the older guys. I was in absolute shock. It was classic Martin O’Neill man-management. You had to be in amongst it to realise how good it was. I can’t speak highly enough about how good a manager Martin is. I didn’t have time to be nervous. Before I knew it I was getting my boots on. If he had told me the night before, I would have been lying there all night thinking about it. We went out and gave a pretty good performance until late on in the game when United eventually ground us down.” 

Whilst at Leicester, Stuart became a Scotland Under-21 international. 

“I was born in England, but my whole family is Scottish. When Dave Sexton was the England U-21 manager, England put a phone call to Leicester and got through to John Robertson (the Scottish Assistant Manager) to ask him about me playing for England. John Robertson told him, ‘No Chance!’ He then got straight onto the phone to Tommy Craig the Scotland Under -21 manager and before I knew it, I was called up to Scotland! 

“I played in the European qualifiers. We had a decent team with players like Barry Ferguson but unfortunately we didn’t qualify but looking back it was a fantastic experience. At the time I didn’t fully appreciate it. I also didn’t fully appreciate being at Leicester City, a Premier League Club, until I stepped away. I was so lucky and if I could just have one more of those days! 

“When Martin left for Celtic in 2000, it wasn’t really a shock. We were expecting it. Everton and Leeds had already made approaches and at that time, Alex Ferguson had announced his retirement. Martin would have been a front runner for his job but then Ferguson changed his mind. Due to his background, Celtic meant a lot to Martin. For an Englishman it is difficult to appreciate what a big club Celtic is. The draw for him go there was huge. 

“I loved Filbert Street with its big stand and the Kop. The atmosphere was incredible. Night matches were special. 

“I remember the UEFA Cup game against Atletico Madrid. I came on as a sub in Madrid. When we got off the plane I couldn’t believe that Martin had arranged for our team bus to be driven over there by our bus driver ‘Oddjob’. That shows how much attention to detail he gave to things. We had a police escort for the bus ride from the hotel to the Stadium. It seemed as though we were going 100 mph! 

“We played really well. Ian Marshall scored but we lost 2-1. They were big spenders in Europe with players like Paulo Futre, Juninho, and Christian Vieri. Nobody gave us much of a chance, which played perfectly into our hands. In the return leg at Filbert Street, I was an unused sub that night and it was probably the worst refereeing performance I had ever seen. Muzzy (Izzet) had a stone wall penalty and Parks (Garry Parker) was sent off for taking a free kick too quickly. The atmosphere was unbelievable. 

“When Peter Taylor came in I knew I wasn’t going to be a regular in the first team. I went on loan to Championship side Grimsby Town. Ex-Leicester City player Paul Groves was there as captain as was ex-Leicester City centre half Richard Smith. I wouldn’t like to get into an argument with ‘Smudge’. He was nice and softly spoken but he was big and tough. After I’d been at Grimsby on loan they paid a fair bit of money for me, about £200,000. I loved playing every Saturday.” 

Stuart then spent eight and a half years at Bristol Rovers winning the Football League Trophy, promotion to League One, and reaching the quarter finals of the FA Cup. 

“At Bristol Rovers, I was captain. I got my coaching badges and became caretaker manager. 

“It’s a bizarre story how I became Tampa’s coach in the new NASL, a second division league which was set up in the USA in 2011. In about 2004 or 2005 we went to Orlando on a family holiday. What a place! Loved it! Later, we decided that we would go back to Orlando for every holiday. Fast forward a few years. I was doing a player’s appearance at a school in Bristol. The headmaster there, a Bristol Rovers fan, said he would like to involved me with his school when I retired. I thanked him but told him I wanted eventually to live in Orlando. He said one of his old pupils worked out there, a guy called Patrick Dicks, the son of the old Bristol City manager Alan Dicks. That year, on holiday, we arranged to meet Patrick. We got on well, and built up a good friendship. 

“Patrick was good friends with (ex-Luton Town and Leicester City player) Ricky Hill who was Head Coach at Tampa. When things came to an end at Bristol Rovers, Rick remembered me as a player and he offered me a job as a player-coach. 

“I played for two years under Rick as player-coach. Then I became his full-time assistant manager for a year. When he left, they appointed another coach Thomas Rongen who wanted me to stay. I became Head Coach in 2015. 

“The NASL is very tight league. My aim is to make it into the play offs and then go on and win Championship. Last season the ex-Real Madrid star Raul played in this league for New York Cosmos. His attitude, his application, the way he worked, was excellent. He was an absolute credit to himself. That’s what I try to tell my side. If you look at the best players in the world, they are also the hardest workers. Just look at Leicester City!”