Campbell out to right the wrongs

There was a surprise name on the team-sheet on Saturday at Coventry City, as DJ Campbell finally emerged from obscurity to gain a place on the substitutes bench.

By coming on the pitch as part of an amibitious Nigel Pearson triple substitution, Campbell was making his first appearance for the club since November 2008 after being frozen out of the Leicester first team for nine months.

The future looked bleak for the former-Yeading forward just months ago, after declaring: ‘I don’t want to go back to Leicester – anything apart from that.’ Most fans would have been happy to witness the back of the player who had suffered from a comination of injury and poor form since his substantial move from Birmingham City in the summer of 2007.

As City’s highest earner it proved impossible to offload the striker to potential suitors, and subsequently Campbell was left to rot in the club’s reserve side. There seemed to be no satisfactory outcome for any party involved; Campbell himself was playing no first-team football and the club had an unwanted player on colossal wages.

But it has been difficult to overlook the striker’s form in the prolonged period since. A hugely successful loan spell at Blackpool where he scored nine goals in twenty appearances, followed by seven goals in three reserve matches for the Foxes second string has put Campbell back on the map. So while Saturday’s inclusion may have come as a surprise to some, do not be surprised to witness a repeat in the coming weeks.

Whilst Campbell’s substitute performance on Saturday was not up to scracth by any means of the imagination, it’s certainly a useful start. His attitude since those infamous words has been hugely impressive, and the striker may now find himself with the second chance he must take with both hands to win back both the fans, and most importantly his manager.