William Campbell: Man United inside-right Profile & Stats
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Portrait of William Campbell

William Campbell

Position: inside-right

Scotland Scotland flag

PWDLFA

HAN P W D L F A Diff Win%
H 2 0 0 2 1 6 -5 0.00
A 3 0 0 3 2 9 -7 0.00
TOTALS 5 0 0 5 3 15 -12 0.00

Name: William Cecil Campbell
Birthdate: 25-10-1865
Age: 160
Birthplace: Inverness, Scotland
Height: 5' 9" (1.75m)
Weight: 12st 9lbs (80.29kgs)
Years at Club: 1893-1894
Signing Info: Transferred from: Blackburn Rovers, 11/1893, £
Previous Clubs: Royal Arsenal, Preston North End, Middlesbrough, Darwen, Blackburn Rovers
Debut: 25/11/1893 v Sheffield United (A) 1-3 (League Division One)
Farewell: Transferred to Notts County, 03/1894, £
Passed Away: PA

Biography

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.
 
Season Goals Season Apps
League Goals League Apps LC Goals LC Apps FAC Goals FAC Apps CS Goals CS Apps EC Goals EC Apps Europa Goals Europa Apps SC Goals SC Apps CWC Goals CWC Apps IC Goals IC Apps CWC Goals CWC Apps 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

Detailed Match & Performance Charts

MUFC Player Goals MUFC Player Appearances MUFC Player Opponent Manager MUFC Player Club Manager
No Opponent Goals Appearances
1. Sunderland 1 1
No MUFC Managers Count
Stadiums Competition Opponents Opponent Nationality
No Competition Count
1. League Division One 5
No Opponent Count
1. Sheffield United 1
2. Everton 1
3. Sunderland 1
4. Bolton Wanderers 1
5. Aston Villa 1
No Opponent Nationality Count
1. England 5
Roy Keane own goal v Real Madrid Old Trafford 2000 Cup Finals
No Date Opponent Competition Own Goals
Player has never scored an own goal against the club.
No Date Opponent WDL F-A Competition
Player never featured in a Cup Final.
Penalties scored for Manchester United Manchester United Hat-Tricks
No Date Opponents Competition Penaltys
Player has never scored a penalty for the club.
No Date Opponent Competition Goals
Player has never scored a hat-trick or better during a game.
 
Red Cards  
No Date Opponent Competition
Player has never been sent off during a match.
 

All Matches played

No Date Comp Opponent WDL F-A HAN Goal!! Scorers Opponent scorers
1. 25-11-1893 Div 1 Sheffield United L 1-3 A 0 Thomas Fitzsimmons ??' Joseph Fall 13' (o.g.), Harry Hammond 43', Billy Fleming ??'
2. 02-12-1893 Div 1 Everton L 0-3 H 0 Fred Geary 48', ??' (pen), Edgar Chadwick ??'
3. 06-12-1893 Div 1 Sunderland L 1-4 A 1 William Campbell 69' Jimmy Millar 10', 70', Johnny Campbell 39', 40'
4. 09-12-1893 Div 1 Bolton Wanderers L 0-2 A 0 Alex Paton ??', Jimmy Cassidy ??'
5. 16-12-1893 Div 1 Aston Villa L 1-3 H 0 John "Jack" Peden ??' Andew Mitchell ??' (o.g.), ??' (o.g.), John Devey ??'
 

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