Jamie Carragher has revealed Sol Campbell was upset not to be invited to the last game at White Hart Lane by Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs have now been playing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for several years now after needing to upgrade from White Hart Lane.
The Finale saw a number of the club’s legends take to the pitch after the victory over Manchester United, but Campbell was not one of them.
Campbell upset by Spurs snub
The final home game of the 2016/17 season was the final game Spurs would play at White Hart Lane.
And they saw their old stadium off in style with an unbeaten home record that season capped off by a 2-1 win over United.
Players like Ledley King, Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardiles were all given a lap of honour after the game, but one specific player was not invited.
Speaking on The Overlap, Carragher has admitted he was stunned to learn of Campbell’s feelings towards not being invited by Tottenham to The Finale. He said: “You can’t do that. More often than not we know football fans are emotional and they keep things, and never forget and sometimes you think that’s a bit over the top that. But that one, I don’t have any sympathy there with Sol Campbell. You can’t be a local rival and go to your biggest rivals because he had other options. He could have gone to Barcelona, I know we were in for him at the time Liverpool, so it wasn’t like it was his only thing he could have done. You can’t do that.
“I was flabbergasted. Remember when White Hart Lane had it’s last game and they invited all the legends there and they didn’t invite Sol Campbell and he was really upset about it. I was like what do you expect? There was no way he was going to be invited.”
What did Campbell expect?
On a day of celebration for Spurs, did Campbell really expect the club to wheel him out in front of a jubilant White Hart Lane crowd?
And even if they did, does he really think he would’ve received anything other than a hostile reception?
It is bizarre – although not unbelievable – to hear this was Campbell’s thinking.
His move across north London is regarded as one of the most controversial football transfers in world football.
It will definitely go down as perhaps the most controversial in the Premier League with Spurs fans to this day still holding a major grudge.
At the time, under Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham were looking forward to a bright future after a stunning season, so parading Campbell around the pitch would’ve been a terrible move.
Regardless of what the reception would have been like for Campbell, there were a number of actual Tottenham legends who were not in attendance that day.
And the fans will have certainly wished to have seen the likes of Gareth Bale over the former Arsenal man.
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