Sol Campbell admits to feeling 'banished' from football as he looks for his first managerial role in three years

Sol Campbell admits he feels “banished" from football as he continues his search for a first managerial role in three years.

The former Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and England defender, who retired from playing in 2011, was last in the dugout in 2020, when he was in charge of then-League One side Southend United.

With Southend second from bottom and 16 points from safety, the season was curtailed due to COVID-19 and, as a result, the club were relegated to League Two. Shortly after, Campbell was relieved of his duties.

Southend now ply their trade in the National League where they currently occupy 12th spot and are without a league win since mid-February.

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In the three years since his departure, Campbell has found coaching roles hard to come by, although the 48-year-old insists he is still very much in the hunt for a job.

But, speaking to Portsmouth News, Campbell admitted he feels like he has been “banished” from the game despite insisting he has all the desirable qualities of a first team manager.

“At Southend, they went down under me in a pandemic season which finished with nine games left. Then down again. Surely people can see I had a bad deal there?” he said.

“If you cannot rationalise that, then you obviously have a fixed picture of me and you don’t want to move from that. I’m not going to change your mind about who I am.

"I’m a good motivator and know what I’m doing when coaching and into the swing of it, I know football inside out. You cannot have all my football experiences and know nothing about football, I can pass it all on.

"I am not coaching at the moment, I would love to and am still applying, but nothing is happening. It’s almost like I am banished out of football, which is bizarre."

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Campbell’s words coincide with a report published this week by the Black Footballers Partnership that shows less than 5% of management-related positions in English football are currently held by black employees.

Compiled by Prof Stefan Szymanski, the statistics are even more alarming further down English football pyramid, with just three out of 68 new roles in League Two going to black employees, and just 11 out of 165 new roles at Championship level.

"I’m not trying to bash anyone or throw people under a bus – and I’m not saying I should get the job, just the chance to be interviewed,” Campbell added.