'I applied for the Portsmouth job twice and didn't even get an interview. That hurts': Ex-Arsenal and England star Sol Campbell on his management agony

The former England international revealed he applied for the Pompey job after the dismissal of Kenny Jackett – and then following January’s departure of Danny Cowley.

However, on each occasion, the Uefa Pro Licence-qualified coach never received a response.

It represents more frustration for the 48-year-old, who is desperate to get back into management having previously fought fires at financially-stricken Macclesfield and Southend.

And, most galling of all, Campbell couldn’t even get an interview at Pompey, where he claimed the 2008 FA Cup and was a pivotal presence in a side which twice finished in the Premier League’s top nine.

He told The News: ‘Please give me the honour of hearing me out, I deserve that at least, 45 minutes of your time.

‘I had to ring Pompey the first time to ask Mark Catlin whether he had received my CV. That’s what hurts me more. If I can't even get an interview at a club where I did well at, where can I get a job?

‘The second time I applied was before John Mousinho. My agent rang up and was told by Andy Cullen it wasn’t the road they were looking to go down, they wanted a leader. I wasn’t asking for the job, just to have a conversation.

‘I did an amazing job at Pompey and now you don’t even want to give me a meeting in person. I don’t even deserve a 45-minute meeting with the hierarchy to see my philosophy and how I look at football?

‘I have nothing against previous managers, but the club were happy to listen and employ the Cowley brothers, who started off as PE teachers. Yet they wouldn’t want to sit down with me, who captained his country and Pompey. It’s hard to take.

‘I’m not trying to bash anyone or throw people under a bus – and I’m not saying I should get the job. Just the chance to be interviewed.

‘All I want is to succeed and it hurts when a club you’ve captained, given blood, sweat and tears for, doesn’t want to give you the time of day. It hurts.

‘I played for England around the world, qualified for tournaments, been under pressure, I know what it means to be at the top and I know what Pompey means to the fans.

‘Some people have managed clubs, relegated clubs, and then got new jobs and still done really, really badly. The Leeds manager (Jesse Marsch) was sacked after almost relegating them and was then wanted by Southampton.

‘There are other managers who have had 4-5 jobs in the Football League with money and done nothing.

‘Yet Macclesfield was the only job offered to me before Southend. I had to take the bottom club in the Football League, nothing else – and I kept them up.

‘There’s no logic to it anymore.’

In November 2018, Campbell took over a Macclesfield side five points adrift at the bottom of League Two and improbably kept them up on the final day.

However, he departed the financially troubled club in August 2019, three games into the season, having not been paid for six months.

Then, in October 2019, he became boss of League One strugglers Southend, with five points from their opening 14 league games. It remains his last job in football.

He added: ‘At Southend, I couldn’t get anyone in, they were under an embargo and nobody had told me. It was extremely tough.

‘I could get people off the books, which I did, but couldn’t even get players on loan because it involved money. I didn't know that when I went in. I was only told at the back end of January 2020.

‘Look at Southend, they went down under me in a pandemic season which finished with nine games left. Then down again. Surely people can see I had a bad deal there?

‘If you cannot rationalise that, then you obviously have a fixed picture of me and you don’t want to move from that. I’m not going to change your mind about who I am.’

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