You
know you’re getting old when your club’s latest striking prospect was the same
school year as your son. This happened to me when Adam Campbell, who was born
on New Year’s Day 1995 and joined Newcastle United as a trainee in 2011 after
leaving St Thomas More School in North Shields, signed a 3 year professional
contract a year later after making his debut as a substitute in a Europa League
qualifier against Atromitis of Athens. As ever, the hype about the latest
potential local lad made good placed an immediate and intolerable burden on the
young lad’s shoulders that he’s struggled to deal with ever since.
Following
the Greek adventure, Adam went back to the reserves for six months, with the
local media repeatedly announcing he was “knocking on the first team door” and
peddling the club line that Campbell was a Paul Scholes type player; short, compact,
inventive and ginger. Grant he did show flashes of this in his Premier League
debut, coming off the bench versus Stoke to set up Papiss Cisse for a last
minute winner, though he made less impact in his other 3 sub appearances, meaning
he was very far from justifying the hype surrounding him. Indeed, like Steve
Harper, Campbell was to play his last NUFC game against Arsenal in May 2013.
The
narrative surrounding Campbell’s career prospects then abruptly changed;
suddenly it was claimed he was too slight and needed toughening up, by going
out on loan to “hone his craft” or some other ludicrous cliché. Thus began 2
years of peripatetic wandering in search of a regular starting berth; initially
this involved a solitary sub appearance on loan at Carlisle, resulting in a 4-0
hammering against Coventry and an immediate trip back along the A69. He had far more success in a half season
stint with St Mirren from January-March 2014, scoring his only 2 senior career
goals and playing a dozen games. Campbell expressed a desire to spend another
year in Paisley, but a change of manager, with former Newcastle United reserve
team boss Tommy Craig being handed the job, before promptly overseeing a
disastrous campaign that ended in relegation, saw Campbell’s chance of SPL
redemption denied. Instead he started the final year of his NUFC contract on
loan to Fleetwood; after 4 underwhelming substitute appearances, including a
1-0 win at Meadow Lane, he was back again. In reserve games, it appeared he’d
lost all his confidence and was going through the motions; a state of affairs
not helped by anonymous showings in a pair of home losses in a brief emergency
loan with Hartlepool that was curtailed by mutual agreement.
In
January 2015, Campbell was informed his contract would not be renewed at
season’s end and he made the sad, well-trodden passage across the Tyne Bridge
to Gateshead, where so many promising young Newcastle starlets who’ve failed to
kick on, have ended up trying (and often failing) to resurrect their career. At
first it looked good for Adam; 2 goals on his debut away to Nuneaton and
another one at home against the same opponents. Sadly, performances dipped, opportunities
dried up and he assumed his usual role as potential impact substitute, while
Gateshead’s campaign dribbled out to mid-table mediocrity.
Frankly,
having seen Campbell’s role being reduced to that of non-participatory
benchwarmer, I’d expected him to sign for a club significantly below Conference
standard, such as Blyth Spartans or Darlington, even though Tony Pulis had him
at The Hawthorns on trial. However, much to my amazement, he’s got himself a
league club, having left one set of Magpies for another. Bearing in mind his
most successful spell as a player was in black and white stripes for St Mirren,
I really hope he does well for you. However, in the context of a campaign to
gain immediate promotion, I fear he’s too small to be a striker and too timid
to be a natural creator. In the hurly burly of League 2, I can see him sinking
without trace, though I’d love to be proved wrong.
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