Sol Campbell to spend time with Patrick Vieira as he plots return to management
The 47-year-old former England international has been out of work since leaving Southend in June 2020.
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Sol Campbell has revealed he will spend time with former Arsenal team-mate Patrick Vieira at Crystal Palace as he looks to get back into management.
The 47-year-old former England international has been out of work since leaving Southend in June 2020 but is keen to keep learning until another chance comes along.
Campbell has spoken extensively in the past about how tough he has found it to find work after spells in difficult circumstances at Roots Hall and before that Macclesfield.
“It’s very difficult, sometimes it depends on your career, sometimes it depends on who you know,” he said at Web Summit in Lisbon.
“For me it is all about being in the right place at the right time. When I started my career in football, I got my first break at Tottenham when someone got injured in the first team and I got in.
“Is that going to happen in management, I am not so sure, it is going to be a little bit more than that.
“You don’t know when you are going to get that job or when that opportunity comes but you always have to prepare. That is what I am doing, while I am not working I am learning.
“I am travelling to different clubs, watching managers around Europe and learning. So when it does happen, it happens, I am there, I am not rusty. You always have to be thinking ahead.
“I have got some friends in football, I am going to see Patrick Vieira at Crystal Palace. I am really happy for him. You can learn from these guys, that is what you have to do.”
You don't know when you are going to get that job or when that opportunity comes but you always have to prepare
While Campbell is not working he is growing his high-end furniture business that he runs with his wife, having recently opened a store in New York.
But football is his real passion and he will take whatever job comes up.
“You have to have something behind the scenes, I have passion in architecture, building and houses,” he said.
“I have a furniture brand with my wife, we do it in the UK and have a store in New York as well. My passion is football and I am working on it.
“I am a tough, open-minded, roll-your-sleeves-up type of guy and I am happy to do that, whatever level, whatever budget, you have to be prepared. You have to expect the unexpected.”