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QPR snare Campbell at last Thursday, 4th Aug 2011 16:06 by Clive Whittingham
QPR have given DJ Campbell another shot at the Premiership after agreeing a £1.25m fee with relegated Blackpool.
Facts
Don’t try and tell DJ Campbell that the FA Cup doesn’t matter any more. Performances in that competition have twice earned him big moves, first back into the Football League and then into the Premiership for the first time. In 2005, at Loftus Road, he impressed for non-league Yeading against Newcastle sufficiently to earn a £5k move to Brentford. A year later he scored twice for the Bees at Griffin Park against Sunderland and within three days had moved to then-Premiership Birmingham for £1m. The famous knock out competition accelerated Campbell’s progress up through the leagues after he paid the price initially for attitude and personal issues.
Campbell started life at QPR, as a trainee, but was not offered a deal and left the club with something of an unsavoury reputation to his name. He subsequently scored reasonably prolifically for Chesham in the Isthmian League Premier Division which then earned him a move to Conference side Stevenage but again he found his face didn’t fit and he was offloaded, first to Billericay on loan and finally on a permanent deal to Yeading in 2003. It was here, at Andy Impey’s old club, that he really started to fulfil his potential – 83 goals in 109 appearances helped Yeading win Isthmian League Division One North and then enjoy an FA Cup run a year later that culminated in the Newcastle game that was moved to Loftus Road for safety reasons.
It was Martin Allen who signed him for Brentford, and Allen came to the rescue again when his time with Birmingham fizzled out after 12 goals in 50 appearances. Then manager of Leicester Allen spent £1.6m to bring him in from St Andrews having sold him to Brum for £500k initially. Campbell’s time at Leicester didn’t work out, firstly because Allen was very quickly sacked by Milan Mandaric despite a reasonable start for the team and two goals in Campbell’s first three league games and secondly because, after a brief spell with Gary Megson in charge, Leicester then appointed Ian Holloway who had described Leicester’s decision to pay such money for a Birmingham reserve player as “absolute madness” when he was Plymouth boss. Leicester were relegated with Holloway in charge and new manager Nigel Pearson had no time for Campbell, choosing to loan him out to Holloway’s Blackpool side rather than pick him in League One.
That move became permanent last summer and Campbell bagged an impressive 13 Premiership goals for the relegated Tangerines last season, the second top English scorer in the Premiership last season. He joins QPR for a few of £1.25m on a two year contract aged 29.
Reaction
"My mum always said to me that I'd be back here one day and today it's happened, so I couldn't be more delighted. I used to sit up in the stands with the hooligans. They were great times - I loved coming down here to watch QPR. I'd really brushed off the chance of ever coming back here to be honest, but maybe it was meant to be. I remember back in the day watching Les and others, heroes of mine, and now I'm back here playing for the club I love. It feels like a dream to be honest." -DJ Campbell
"He is someone I have admired for a while now and he had a fabulous season in the Premier League with Blackpool last year. He is a QPR fan and you can tell he has a great desire to do well for the Club he supports. That shone through when I met up with him - he can't wait to play for us. He also gives us that extra element of pace which we need and I am sure he will prove to be a big hit with the fans at Loftus Road this season." Neil Warnock
Opinion
In DJ Campbell and Jay Bothroyd QPR have signed two players with very similar backgrounds, reputations and failings. The vast majority of things I criticised Bothroyd for in my article about his signing could be applied equally to Campbell – history of attitude issues, a poor goal scoring record in his previous teams, a precedent of being turfed out of clubs, and so on. But I like the look of Campbell, have done for sometime, and thought we should have tried to sign him two years ago. Contrary? When has LoftforWords ever been anything else?
I’m not blinded by his 13 Premiership goals in a relegated side last season, although that certainly is an encouraging sign. Anybody who watched Blackpool play last season will know that they went about their business in such a way that I’d have fancied myself for seven or eight goals if I’d played up front for them all year. When you’ve got Alex Baptiste and Ian Evatt as your centre halves it’s probably a good idea to keep the ball at the other end of the pitch for as long as possible and that’s what they did. Normally when somebody scores a lot of goals for a relegated team, Andy Johnson at Crystal Palace for instance, it’s something to sit up and take note of because chances tend to be few and far between. To be fair Johnson scored a lot of penalties that he won in dubious circumstances for himself and Campbell was always going to score a few for Blackpool last season because there were plenty of chances to score. Blackpool fans will tell you he missed more than his fair share as well. The key to matching the total for QPR this season, and I think we’d all take 13 goals from him now if given the chance, will be whether our team can provide a decent supply of chances.
I digress, the reason I like Campbell is because unlike Bothroyd whenever I’ve seen him in a big match or whenever the going has been tough he’s shown up. There have been no mystery toe injuries, there have been no anonymous performances in big games, and when he’s been in a struggling team he’s gone about his work on the pitch with gusto. He’s made many mistakes, and upset a lot of people along the way, but he’s built a career at the top level for himself by working his way back up from the very bottom. Bothroyd, by comparison, traded for the best part of ten years off his reputation as a promising Arsenal graduate without ever actually producing anything until he got to Cardiff. Compare Bothroyd limping out of last season’s play off final against Blackpool to Campbell’s showing in the same match. Compare Bothroyd’s performances, if they can be called that, in this year’s semi finals with Reading to Campbell’s frankly awesome demolition of Forest at the same stage of last year’s competition.
I don’t want to create the impression that I hate Bothroyd and think he’s an awful signing, because I don’t and he’s not, I’m just trying to explain why I’ve always rated one player and not the other when they’re both very similar.
Here’s the repeat line of the summer – Neil Warnock has earned the right to be trusted on signings with the business he did last summer and if this player is his choice then that’s fine by me. What Rangers have done with Bothroyd and Campbell is improved their attack without question, an area that needed attention with Agyemang, Hulse, Helguson and Clarke not really inspiring anybody. They’ve got players with points to prove, at good ages, and at excellent prices. The contracts, in length at least, aren’t lumbering us with players on four year deals as in the past and on paper Bothroyd and Campbell looks and sounds like it could be a bit of a handful as a partnership.
It’s a shame the trail went cold on Routledge because to add him, Campbell and Bothroyd to our attack for £3m would have been an outstanding piece of business. Warnock is working his tight budget well.
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Agree about your last point about missing out on Routledge. However, in the (unlikely?) event that Joe Cole signs then that would more than make up for it.
Jamois - yes he is and having watched us against Cesena I think it's pretty clear he's going to slot into the three man supporting cast directly behind Bothroyd with Taarabt right or left and Tommy Smith/Jamie Mackie in the remaining position.
Bothroyd is the obvious leading man, but loves to drift off into that left channel. He scored against us doing that last season and he was doing it all the time against Cesena. That left us quite often with nobody in the penalty area so by playing campbell behind him he can fill that gap. Last year Taarabt played centrally but Warnock said we'd use him differently in the Prem and I think he sees him in a wider area cutting in from there.
Thanks Clive, that all makes good sense to me. I don't like to sense the emotion too much, as experience dictates that something will rear it's ugly arse, but I'm bleedin' excited! I could actually see us causing a problem or two for a few defences out there.
A good signing, pity he wasn't around for the Italian tour so that NW didn't have to keep playing Agyemang. Is it me or are we beginning to turn the corner after the pessimism of the past 2 months? All we need now are a premiership quality full back and defensive midfielder for a decent side. Another know someone with £15million spare to get Kyle Walker and Scott Parker?
I'm feeling far more optimistic than I was 2 weeks ago. The tour of Italy, playing teams of a decent standard showed that we will be difficult to break down. Now we have 2 strikers for the other end. We need to find 3 or more teams worse than us and adding an England international + 3 players with PL experience for next to nothing is just genius. It won't be easy, but we have a chance.
Superb business to acquire Bothroyd and Campbell for £1.25M. Hitzlsperger would be superb for us and hopefully some young pacey full backs from Spurs or Arsenal.
Given the depth of the squad (or not) injuries will define our season.
Everyone stays fit; not going down. The loss of one or 2 for any period, and the supporting crew will struggle to fill the holes.
Can't knock Warnock, given the budget. One of the few managers that can get players collectively or individually to over perform consistently and get results. Most of his peers are prone to arrogance and dillusion when it comes to taking players that need a polish, shoulder or rocket up the Jacksey and turning them into performers. Warnock seems to have the magic required.
He might even convert Kieran Dyer into a full back!
Saying that, consistency and form will play a big part too.
Bottom line, if we score more goals than the other team we'll be fine!
Getting excited! If we can get another left back, all we have to do now, is the do the double over, Everton, Fulham, Norwich, Swansea, WBA, Wigan, Wolves and home wins over Bolton and Newcastle and we have 48 points = mid-table security! Sounds easy if you say it quickly!
to somersethoops thanks for the video he looks handy around the six yard box ( if Taarabt keeps his head up could have quiet a few assists thro feeding DJ ) As I expect we will be doing alot of counter attacking his pace to run in on goal should cause plenty of problems for opponets
best signing of the summer so far - gives me a slither of hope. DJ's making lots of noises about being a QPR fan so hopefully that might see him put in a little extra effort as well (?) and in any case will endear him to the fans
When it comes to having something to prove to the Prem our strikers should be falling over themselves. DJ to better 13 goals last time, Heidar and Tommy to prove critics wrong, Boothroyd to show he can cut at the top and those four will be hunted down remorselessly by Jamie who would play on crutches to get into the starting eleven.
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