Kevin Campbell

Kevin Joseph Campbell (born 4 February 1970) is an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit and co-commentator.

He was a striker, who featured in the Premier League for Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Everton and West Bromwich Albion.

He also played in the Turkish Süper Lig for Trabzonspor, and in the Football League for Leyton Orient, Leicester City and Cardiff City.

Campbell began his career as a trainee with Arsenal, joining the club on schoolboy forms in 1985.

He was prolific for Arsenal's Academy, scoring 59 goals in one season.

Campbell also won the FA Youth Cup of 1988 with Arsenal.

He went on to make his first-team debut against Everton on 7 May 1988, although the club's forward positions at the time were usually taken by Paul Merson and Alan Smith.

Campbell came to prominence during a loan spell at Leyton Orient in 1989 when he scored 9 goals in 16 games.

Campbell helped see the club to promotion during that season but didn't play in their victorious playoff final against Wrexham as his loan spell had just ended.

Orient manager Frank Clark wanted to make the move permanent but Arsenal refused to sell.

After a poor start to the 1989–90 season he was again loaned out, this time to Leicester City.

However, in the following season he established himself in the Arsenal team, scoring eight times in ten matches during the run-in to the club's First Division title win.

He was capped four times by England U21, scoring once and received a call-up to the England B in 1991 where he earned one cap.

Despite Arsenal signing Ian Wright in September 1991, Campbell continued to feature for Arsenal, although he was often in the shadow of his more prolific partner.

Nevertheless, he scored several crucial goals for Arsenal such as equalisers against Millwall and Derby County in Arsenal's victorious 1992–93 campaigns in the FA Cup and League Cup.

In the 1993–94 season, he scored 19 goals, his best for the Gunners.

He also featured in the victorious 1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign, scoring four goals, including one in the semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.

His form for the club waned in 1994–95, and the arrivals of forwards John Hartson and Chris Kiwomya saw his playing time reduced.

In all, Campbell played 224 times for Arsenal, scoring 60 goals.

In the summer of 1995, Campbell was sold to Nottingham Forest for an initial fee of £2.5million, where he spent three seasons.

He was part of the team that was relegated in 1997, but his 23 goals the following season helped see the Reds win the Football League Championship of 1998.

However, Campbell controversially left Forest at the end of that season to join Turkish side Trabzonspor for £2.5million, a move which caused Forest teammate Pierre van Hooijdonk to famously go "on strike".

His time in Trabzon saw him leave the club in seven months after a misunderstood racist incident which involved club president, Mehmet Ali Yılmaz calling him a "cannibal".

Campbell and his teammates also had not been paid, something which he demanded they rectify.

To show solidarity with Campbell, the two club captains, Ogün Temizkanoğlu and Abdullah Ercan, were at his side during a press conference in which he stated his reasons for leaving the club.

Everton, who were battling against relegation from the Premier League, signed Campbell on loan in March 1999.

His impact on the side was immediate as he scored nine goals in his first eight games.

These feats made him Everton's top goalscorer both at home and away from Goodison Park for that season.

Campbell thus almost single-handedly saved the club from being relegated from the Premier League.

His six goals of which were scored in his first three games earned him Everton's player of the month award for April, making him the first loanee to be bestowed with the title.

Campbell's move to Everton was made permanent in the summer of 1999 for a fee of £3million.

In the 1999–2000 season, he scored Everton's winning goal in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool at Anfield, which was Everton's last win at Anfield before 2021, when Everton defeated Liverpool 2–0.

He ended the season as the club's top scorer, with 12 goals scored altogether.

He was Everton's leading goalscorer for the following season, but only scored four times during the 2001–02 league campaign, a season in which Campbell was Everton captain.

Campbell was once again the Toffees' top scorer during the subsequent season.

After that, injuries limited his appearances for the club and he left in 2005.

Campbell is Everton's fifth highest Premier League goal scorer, behind Romelu Lukaku, Duncan Ferguson, Tim Cahill, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Campbell was Everton's first ever black captain.

Campbell moved to West Bromwich Albion in January 2005 on a free transfer and helped the club retain its Premiership status.

This endeavour marked the first time that a club that had been at the bottom of the league on Christmas Day had gone on to avoid relegation.