Sol Campbell and wife Fiona honeymoon here |21 July 2010
The couple tied the knot earlier this month at a star-studded and romantic country wedding, before the glamorous guests partied the night away at his 18th century mansion in Hallington, England. Campbell proposed a year ago with a £100,000 ring over a romantic dinner.
Born Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell, he came here a year ago and enjoyed his holiday. He stayed at the Banyan Tree Resort, visited Denis island, mingled with football fans at Le Méridien Fisherman’s Cove Hotel and dined at Le Corsaire Restaurant.
Why have the couple chosen to come back to Seychelles?
“Seychelles is a beautiful set of islands and we are back here on our honeymoon,” Campbell told Sports Nation yesterday morning at the Seychelles International Airport.
Asked where he will be playing this coming season, Campbell answered: “I don’t know. I’ll leave it up to God (to decide).”
The out-of-contract defender, who is reported to have failed to gain a new deal at Arsenal, is rumoured to be moving to either Newcastle United or Celtic.
A rock-solid defender, Campbell left Notts County five days into a five-year deal to rejoin the Gunners in January until the end of the 2009/2010 season.
He described last season with Arsenal as “very good”. “We nearly made it (in the English Premier League). But in the end, we had too many injuries to key players.”
The first player to have represented England on the pitch in six consecutive international tournaments – Uefa European Football Championship (Euro 96) in England, World Cup 1998 in France, Euro 2000 co-hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, World Cup 2002 co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, Euro 2004 in Portugal, and World Cup 2006 in Germany – Campbell was brief when asked to comment on England’s dismal appearance at the first World Cup on African soil, in South Africa.
“I think everyone saw how it went,” he said.
Campbell started his professional career at Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent nine years. He made his first team debut for the Spurs when he came on as a substitute for Nick Barmby in December 1992 at 18 years old and scored against Chelsea.
Campbell successfully captained Spurs to a League Cup final win over Leicester City in 1998-1999, and in 2001 he made the switch to Arsenal – Spurs’ greatest rivals.
In his first season with the Gunners, he enjoyed immediate success as he won a double – Premier League and FA Cup – under French manager Arsène Wenger, partnering either Tony Adams or Martin Keown at the back.
In 2002-2003 he won the FA Cup, but Arsenal relinquished the Premier League title. He was a key figure in defence during the 2003-2004 season as Arsenal returned as Premier League champions without losing a single game.
He again won an FA Cup winners’ medal with Arsenal in 2004-2005. The defender scored the opening goal from a Thierry Henry free-kick after a foul on Emmanuel Eboue in the 2006 Uefa Champions League final against Barcelona, but he ended up on the losing side – 1-2 – at the Stade de France in Paris.
Voted 15th in the Gunners’ Greatest 50 Players poll in 2008, Sol arrived at Portsmouth in the summer of 2006 and replaced Dejan Stefanovic as captain for the 2007-2008 season. He led Pompey out as captain at Wembley Stadium in the 2008 FA Cup final, which they won 1-0 against Cardiff City.
G. G.