Born on this day in 1987 is former England international centre-forward and ex-Sunderland player Fraizer Campbell. He is one of the few modern English players to represent his country while playing for the Black Cats.
Hailing from Huddersfield, Campbell began his career in 1997 with Manchester United and later signed for their academy in 2004, impressive performances led to a professional contract two years later. He’d spend the entirety of the 2006-07 season out on loan at Royal Antwerp in the Belgian Second Division, where he was rather prolific with 24 goals in 38 appearances as they missed out on promotion through the playoffs.
He returned to his parent club and made his debut against Manchester City, before spending the remainder of the season out on loan to Hull City in the Championship, 15 goals in 37 appearances once again showcased his enormous potential and he provided the assist in the play off final as the Tigers clinched promotion to the Premier League.
Campbell seemed set to remain at Manchester United in the following campaign, despite strong interest from Hull to sign him permanently, helping them win the Community Shield and starting on the opening day of the Premier League against Newcastle. Alas, it wasn’t to be at Man U as he was loaned out to Tottenham as part of a deal for Dimitar Berbatov.
His spell at Tottenham was poor, just three goals in 22 games and in the following summer he made a permanent switch to Wearside for an initial fee of £3.5 million after choosing us over Hull.
Fraizer enjoyed his first season with Sunderland the most, with seven goals in 36 games. That goal tally didn’t set the world alight but it wasn’t too bad when you consider that he mainly played off of the bench or in cup games. Once he did get off the mark in the Premier League, the striker enjoyed a great spell of scoring in three games out of four.
Unfortunately Campbell’s good run of form was cut short in his second season here, suffering a serious cruciate ligament injury that kept him out for seven months before his injury reoccurred and he couldn’t play again for another nine months. He came back with a vengeance though, scoring against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup and then providing another goal and an assist against Norwich City on his Premier League return, a goal that featured in an advert for the Premier League because of how good it was.
Surprisingly, despite barely playing any football in the last year and a half, he was given a call up for the senior England side. Fraizer played 10 minutes in a 3-2 defeat to the Netherlands in a friendly.
Struggling for form in his final season in red and white, he scored just once in 15 games (against his former side Manchester United) and made a switch to Cardiff City in the January transfer window for £650,000. Campbell had a great time at his new club, finding the net seven times in 12 and being rewarded with a Championship winners’ medal. In the following season he managed nine in 40 as the Bluebird’s (playing in red that season) were relegated back to the second tier.
Clearly good enough to continue playing in the top tier, Campbell made a move to south London with Crystal Palace for a fee of £900,000. He had a distinctly average time of things during his first campaign there (five goals in 22) before two terrible seasons, which totalled to just three goals in 28. This saw him released from his contract and he returned to the club that had really seen his career take off, returning to Hull.
His time at Hull was a big improvement from his time at Palace, six goals in 38 and then 12 goals in 39 before his final move of his career to Huddersfield after his contract at Hull expired.
During his time with his hometown club, he won a Championship Goal of the Month award and became an ambassador for the club’s charity, he did only find the net 10 times in 94 games though. He's done work in the media since retiring. The injuries were a huge shame for Campbell who is a "what could have been" player for SAFC...
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