March 14, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. EDT
LONDON — Last fall, Sol Campbell made a decision steeped in bittersweet catharsis: He would no longer apply for jobs as a manager in English professional soccer. It was sweet because it provided the Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal legend a measure of closure to a post-playing career filled with more frustration than joy. Bitter because admitting defeat is not in Campbell’s nature.
“I’ve been pushed into this,” he says with a sigh of resignation. Years of getting passed over for one job after another, he adds, “makes me not trust the sport anymore.