'Robert J Campbell' (born
23 April 1937 in
Liverpool) was a
football (soccer) player and later manager. He began his career with
Liverpool, where he also won England Youth international caps. He then moved on to
Portsmouth and later
Aldershot.
After injury ended his career in
1966, he turned his hand to coaching, at Portsmouth and then, with greater success, at
Queens Park Rangers. He went on to work under
Bertie Mee at
Arsenal as first-team coach, after
Steve Burtenshaw's resignation and subsequent departure to
Sheffield Wednesday in 1973.
His first managerial or 'head coach' job came at
Fulham in 1976, after his former boss
Alec Stock was sacked. After four mediocre years where his major achievement was a 1million
GBP gross transfer profit, he was sacked when the team made a poor start to the
1980-81 season. He moved on to
Portsmouth, whom he led to the
Third Division title in
1982-83.
Towards the end of the
1987-88 season, Campbell was appointed assistant to manager
John Hollins at
Chelsea, a team in the midst of a relegation battle; one month later Hollins was sacked and Campbell appointed caretaker manager until the end of the season. Campbell was unable to turn around the club's fortunes in the eight games which remained that season, and they were relegated via the short-lived play-off system.
He made amends the following season, however, as his side romped to promotion as
Second Division champions with a haul of 99 points. A year later, he led to Chelsea to a 5th place finish in the
First Division, their highest league placing since 1970. He was relieved of his managerial duties after an 11th place finish and appointed personal assistant to Chelsea chairman
Ken Bates in 1991.
Campbell went on to coach in
Saudi Arabia.
References
★
Pompey: The History of Portsmouth Football Club, Mike Neasom, Mick Cooper & Doug Robinson, , , Milestone Publications, 1984, ISBN 0-903852-50-0