{"id":293789,"date":"2023-10-06T07:39:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T07:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=293789"},"modified":"2023-10-06T07:39:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T07:39:40","slug":"i-played-in-country-so-intense-that-training-got-newspaper-player-ratings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/i-played-in-country-so-intense-that-training-got-newspaper-player-ratings\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I played in country so intense that training got newspaper player ratings’"},"content":{"rendered":"
Kevin Campbell is best known for his extended spells with Arsenal and Everton – but his time in Turkey sticks long in his memory. <\/p>\n
The London-born striker spent a single season with Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super Lig and quickly realised that the passion for the game was unlike anything he'd seen before. Not only would fans spend every waking moment thinking about their team – but the press coverage was just as intense.<\/p>\n
The 53-year-old has spoken about the media coverage of him and his team-mates, which would involve five newspaper pages each day – and even player ratings for their performances in training. Campbell exclusively told Ladbrokes Fanzone: "You'd get marked for your performances in training, in five-a-side games, and they'd end up in the newspaper; that's how close the press were to everything.<\/p>\n
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"If we played any practice games, you'd get marked; there'd be a double-page spread on the game.\u200c In the papers, the team got five pages, a day! So they had to fill them with something! If you did great in a five-a-side game, there'd be this massive headline in the paper the next day!<\/p>\n
"It's amazing, the coverage out there… it's amazing. It was always funny to me because I'd never seen anything like it. To those guys out there, it was normal, to make the headlines after a good training session.<\/p>\n
\u200c"My Turkish could only improve while I was out there, because I didn't have a clue when I first signed! There were some great guys out there, though, and a lot of them spoke English, so they helped me with my Turkish.<\/p>\n
Which country has the most passionate fans? Tell us in the comments section below<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
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"And, you can imagine, the worst words were the first words they taught me. They were getting me to say some terrible things in meetings, but it was all good fun. In the end, I could conduct small interviews in Turkish, which was great. I embraced it all; if you're going to be there, at least learn the lingo, you know? I loved it.<\/p>\n
"I did go back out there 20 years later, or so, and one of my team-mates, Unal [Karaman] was the manager of the team.<\/p>\n
"It was great to see him, and great to go back and see some of the guys who were still working at the club.<\/p>\n
"And I got to see the press guys again… a lot of them were the same guys as when I was playing for the club, in 1998! It was nice to see them all, and discuss old times and things like that."<\/p>\n
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Sky Sports is bringing you 500 live football games to watch, as well access to Cricket, Golf, F1, Boxing, NFL, NBA and more across eight<\/span> dedicated channels. Sky Sports is the <\/span>only way to watch all the action this year.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a322 a month<\/p>\n Having played for Arsenal and Nottingham Forest before heading into Europe, Campbell called time on his professional career after spells with Everton, West Brom and Cardiff City.<\/p>\n He managed 149 senior career goals including five across 18 appearances in Turkey, since working as a pundit in England and Asia.<\/p>\n Campbell's son Tyrese has since begun a professional career, making 146 appearances for Stoke City and scoring 33 goals.<\/p>\n