Sol Campbell Walks Out on Sven

Pundits and soccer fans were a little surprised when former England and Manchester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson decide not to pursue another top flight soccer management career after leaving his position as the head coach of Mexico’s national team last year.

Despite being linked to offers from several Premiership clubs he made the surprising move of taking a position as the Director of Football at Notts County, the oldest soccer team in England but one that has fallen to the very depths of English Professional football Football Division Two (the former Fourth Division)

Not so surprising was the signing of Sol Campbell at the start of this season. Although once an England player and a part of the Arsenal team known as the “Invincibles” (they went undefeated in the 2002/2003 season) he is now 35 and well past his best. His contract with first Division Portsmouth expired and he was about to have no team to call his own, until his old England boss arranged a free transfer to Notts County.

But apparently Sol couldn’t handle life at the bottom of the heap, and unexpectedly packed up his soccer cleats and walked out this week, immediately following a team photo shoot during which he had been all smiles.

So what went wrong? Sven Goran Eriksson, speaking on behalf of the club says he really doesn’t know. But if the rumors that Campbell was telling people he was disillusioned by the clubs progress (after just one game) are true , Erikkson says Campbell was being grossly unfair.

He told the BBC "I really don't know the real reason. He didn't like the training pitch and the dressing room and things like that but he knew that before because we showed him around before he signed. Since the new owners came in, the club has signed seven or eight new players - and you can't build a new training ground in four or five weeks. We are all sorry that he has gone but the project goes on without Sol Campbell, nothing has changed."

For many, this seems to put an end to Campbell’s long career, especially since he made such a dramatic move that is rather out of character with his normally very pleasant demeanor.

Then again, maybe he was right to want more after all. Another former boss, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger thinks Campbell could still be useful to a top flight team.

"It depends how much he wants it," said the Arsenal boss. "He still has enough in the locker to play in the Premier League. If he wants to play in the Premier League, he can still play in the Premier League."