campbell_william
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| Name: William Cecil Campbell |
Nationality: Scotland |
| Position: inside-right |
Signing Information: Transferred from: Blackburn Rovers, 11/1893, £ |
| Birthdate: 25-10-1865 |
Years at Club: 1893-1894 |
| Age: (159) |
Debut: 25/11/1893 v Sheffield United (A) 1-3 (League Division One) |
| Birthplace: Inverness, Scotland |
Previous clubs: Royal Arsenal, Preston North End, Middlesbrough, Darwen, Blackburn Rovers |
| Height: 5' 9" (1.75m) |
Farewell to Manchester United: Transferred to Notts County, 03/1894, £ |
| Weight: 12st 9lbs (80.29kgs) |
Passed Away: PA |
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They called him "The Pilgrim of the Football World" on account of his frequent travels and, for Scotsman William Cecil Campbell, it was a pilgrimage imbued with troubles. While serving in the army in 1886, he turned out for London Caledonians, an amateur team made up primarily of Scots living in the capital. He soon left the army and joined the freshly formed Arsenal in their pre-League days.
Campbell developed into a decent inside-forward, good enough to be picked up by Champions Preston for 1890-91. Despite playing just 4 League matches for the Deepdale outfit, he netted as many goals. The following year, however, was spent at Middlesbrough in the Northern League, before he returned to the Football League with Darwen in 1892-93. That is when the problems began...
The 5'9", 12st 4lb striker had obtained an athletic outfitter's business while in Middlesbrough: Northern Athletics Store at 110 Linthorpe Road. Six months later, facing a deficit of £173, he decided to sell it, but he kept having issues with one of the buyers, eventually pushing him down a flight of stairs! Obviously, they stopped paying him his due and, with all the travelling between his house on Melrose Street in Darwen, the store in Middlesbrough and the buyers in Scotland, he incurred a further £45 in expenses. This led him to file for bankruptcy in a Blackburn court in March 1893.
To make matters worse, William was forced to disclose to the judge that he had been paid £2 a week by Arsenal and Middlesbrough... when still supposedly an amateur. This led the footballing authorities to suspend him till October 1st, 1893. Thus, after 8 goals in 26 league and cup games, he was released by Darwen, only to be picked up by Blackburn Rovers that summer.
Sensationally, within a few weeks, Campbell decided he wanted to emigrate to South Africa, and hence asked Rovers to discharge him. They duly obliged... only for him to reverse his decision in mid-September. So, he recovered from a foot injury to finally represent Blackburn on October 7th - against his former club Preston - when he was understandably "off colour". Rovers promptly offloaded him to Newton Heath in November 1893.
In five straight games Campbell occupied the inside-right berth for the Heathens - and lost all five! At least he scored in one of them (against Sunderland). Soon the management discovered that their new signing suffered from chronic rheumatism and elected not to pay Blackburn the £25 transfer fee, until they were forced to do so by the football authorities. Consequently, they sold him to Notts County in March 1894, and this was all still in the same season!
Before William even kicked a ball for his new club, he was in trouble. Having heard County were looking for a good back, he took it upon himself to write a letter to an ex-Blackburn teammate named Murray to entice him to join the new club. Not surprisingly, the latter alerted his club who duly filed a complaint. The Football League suspended Campbell for two years while the FA banned him from playing anywhere until October 1st - for the second year in a row!
Campbell now dropped into the non-League circuit, first captaining Newark FC then representing Renton. When his ban ended in 1896, he joined Everton and spent a season in their reserve team, only making the first team on three occasions and scoring one goal.
Biography kindly provided by Charbel Boujaoude. |
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Season
Goals |
Season
Apps |
| 1 |
1893-1894 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
| TOTALS |
1 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
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