FOOTBALL

SHEARER HOMES IN ON HIS PAL SOL

SHIRT SHRIFT: Campbell wants out at Pompey

Friday July 3,2009

By Jason Mellor and Peter White

ALAN SHEARER is hoping Sol Campbell will accept one final career challenge by joining him in his quest to return Newcastle to the Premier League.

Campbell, a former England team-mate of Shearer, is ready to quit Portsmouth and is open to offers after spending three years at Fratton Park.

Campbell, 34, has bought property near Newcastle with his fiancee Fiona Barratt, granddaughter of Geordie property tycoon Sir Laurie Barratt and heiress to the Barratt Homes empire.

Shearer, who hopes his appointment as manager will be rubber-stamped in the next 10 days when Mike Ashley’s drawn-out £100 million sale of the club finally goes through, is keen to bring in Campbell.

He has a list of transfer targets but Campbell, who came close to joining Newcastle before opting to sign for Pompey in 2006, will not rush into a decision.

But he is ready to hear what Shearer has to say. “There are a few options out there,” said Campbell. “I’m out of contract and I’m going to listen to different offers.

“I’m aware of interest from other clubs and that’s nice to know. I want to make the right choice. People are now getting back from their holidays and hopefully a deal can start moving.”

Campbell, who just over 12 months ago lifted the FA Cup for Portsmouth, has hit out at the uncertainty surrounding Fratton Park, as prospective new owner Sulaiman Al Fahim continues his planned takeover.

Campbell has already seen full-back Glen Johnson move to Liverpool and midfielder Sean Davis join Bolton, while half-a-dozen other players have not been offered new contracts.

With pre-season training due to begin next week, the future of Paul Hart, manager for the final three months of last season, is still unclear. Hart’s contract ran out at the end of June and although he still has a two-year deal as youth academy director, he will probably be asked to take training until a new manager is appointed under the Al Fahim regime.

“Portsmouth have to organise themselves and there are a lot of things happening there,” added Campbell. “The chairman, the manager and people like that, I like them to be really close together to move the club on.

“At the moment with Portsmouth it just seems there are a lot of things in the background. It may resolve itself, I don’t know.

“But for me, as a player, I want to be in the right environment. For at least the next two years, the right environment to be successful.” According to David Edgar, Newcastle is certainly not that kind of environment. Canada centre-half Edgar has signed a four-year deal to join newly-promoted Burnley and said: “The situation at Newcastle probably made it easier for me to make the decision.

“Moving to Burnley was too good an opportunity to turn down. I only got a phone call from Newcastle on Wednesday.

“They phoned to ask if it was true I had joined Burnley. There was just no one to talk to at Newcastle because there’s no permanent manager.”