Thank you Kevin Campbell, you were the hero Everton needed most

“My name is Super Kev Campbell, I scored in a scramble...”

This correspondent wouldn’t be allowed to write the next line here but surely most Evertonians of a certain vintage just sung it to themselves in their heads when reading this.

Arguably, not since the halcyon days of Dixie Dean, the club’s most-prolific scorer closing in on his legendary 60 in 1928, had an Everton centre-forward enjoyed such a pivotal purple patch in front of goal as decisive in the club’s fortunes as Kevin Campbell in the spring of 1999.

Kevin Campbell Everton hero dies aged 54

A season on from their second ‘Great Escape’ from relegation on the final day – drawing 1-1 at home to Coventry City to stay up above Bolton Wanderers on goal difference – Walter Smith’s shot-shy Blues side were dangerously on the slide as the ‘business end’ of the campaign approached.

Replacing Everton’s most-successful manager Howard Kendall, who had returned for a third spell in charge a year earlier, Smith’s reign got off to an ominous start as his side drew 0-0 with Aston Villa on the opening day. The Blues failed to score in nine of their first dozen Premier League fixtures under the Scot at Goodison Park and despite going from famine to feast with a surprise 5-0 mauling of Middlesbrough on February 17, that result proved the exception to the rule and they started to slide down the table.

Smith claimed that fan favourite Duncan Ferguson had been sold behind his back by owner Peter Johnson when he moved to Newcastle United in November and in the days when the English transfer deadline didn’t pass until March, the Everton manager made a late move for a target man who could fill the void left by his compatriot from north of the border. It proved to be a Merseyside return for Londoner Campbell who had made his senior debut for Arsenal against the Blues at Goodison Park on May 7, 1988, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute for Martin Hayes, who had earlier netted what proved to be the winner in a 2-1 victory.

Although Gunners boss George Graham – who was away watching potential transfer targets – wasn’t present to witness the bow of the then-18-year-old protege who had netted 63 goals in all competitions for the club’s junior sides that term, his assistant Theo Foley said: “We wanted to give Kevin a game because he looks as if he could be very useful.” For his part, Campbell was just disappointed not to be an instant hero as just three minutes after coming on, his header from Lee Dixon’s cross flashed just wide of the post as Neville Southall watched on.

The Lambeth-born prospect said: “I’m sick I didn’t mark my debut with a goal because it would have been a really good start for me. I went for power rather than trying to guide it in.”

However, Campbell never had any trouble finding the net at Goodison in a royal blue jersey, though, as Everton provided him with a Premier League lifeline when his move abroad turned sour. After winning all three major domestic honours with Arsenal (the League Championship in 1991; FA Cup & League Cup in 1993) plus the European Cup-Winners’ Cup in 1994, the striker had a two-year spell at Nottingham Forest before trying his luck in Turkey with Trabzonspor.

Despite a promising start, payment issues arose and Campbell looked for an escape route following a bizarre incident which saw him described as “a discoloured cannibal” by club president Mehmet Ali Yilmaz. With the player’s agent Paul Stretford negotiating a loan release, the Blues stepped in.

Recalling the move, Campbell said: “There were five clubs in for me, the first name mentioned was Everton and I said: ‘That is where I’m going’.

“I got on the flight over and flew up from London. I was sat beside an Evertonian and he didn’t know who I was.

“He was telling me all about Everton, so I said I’m meeting a guy called Smith who is apparently an Everton fan. So he gets through the airport and Walter Smith is there.

“He turned around and said: ‘Are you the new signing, who I just told everything about Everton?’ I invited him to the West Ham game [the final one of the season], luckily I scored a hat-trick and he was in tears.

“That affinity just grew. It was an electric connection and it’s been the same ever since.”

Things got worse before they got better for Campbell and Everton though. Given a baptism of fire by making his debut in the Merseyside Derby at Anfield, Olivier Dacourt fired the Blues ahead after just 41 seconds but they lost 3-2 and then another defeat, 2-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday 48 hours later saw them drop into the relegation zone on Easter Monday. However, it was from this point that the new arrival took over.

Campbell plundered an incredible nine goals in the next five games, as he scored twice in a 2-0 win over Coventry City, twice in a 3-1 win at Newcastle United, twice in a 4-1 win over Charlton Athletic and then a hat-trick in a 6-0 demolition of West Ham United. Those results secured the club’s top-flight status with a week to spare and ensured Campbell finished Everton’s top scorer for the season despite not grabbing his first goal until April 11.

Some things never seem to change though and despite Campbell’s incredible spree, with funds tight at Goodison Park that summer, there was still no guarantee the Blues could make him a permanent transfer. Thankfully, Everton were able to strike a £3million deal with Trabzonspor and after his debut disappointment, Campbell wrote himself into Merseyside Derby folklore by grabbing a fourth minute winner against Liverpool on September 27, 1999, a result almost 25 years on which remains the Blues’ most recent success at Anfield in front of fans.

Speaking to the ECHO in February 2021 ahead of the game in which Carlo Ancelotti’s side finally ended the hoodoo across Stanley Park – albeit in an empty stadium – Campbell’s memories of partying like it was 1999 (because it was) remained vivid. He told me: “It feels like it was yesterday, not over 21 years ago.

“You do visualise it. You understand the movement and taking it early because the ball was on the up and seeing the Blues in the Kop when it hit the back of the net. It’s almost like a little movie in my head and was an amazing experience.

“We got our noses in front so early. With both sides having a man sent off it didn’t kill it as a spectacle but it made it possible for us to sit in to lure them on to us to catch them on the counter-attack.

“We banked up on them. We didn’t necessarily park the bus but made life difficult for them. It obviously worked on the day and they also got a young Steven Gerrard sent off late in the second half.”

Indeed, dismissed for a lunge on the Everton centre-forward, in 2014 Gerrard recalled having to come face-to-face Campbell in the gents after booking a post-match meal at the Albert Dock, declaring: “I went with a face on me and the first person I bumped into in the toilet was Kevin Campbell! He dropped his keks and showed me the stud marks I’d left on his thigh.

“When you’re 19 and there’s a man-mountain stood in front of you with a cob on there’s only one thing you can do. So I apologised for the tackle and shook his hand.”

Campbell, who was also the Premier League’s most-prolific uncapped Englishman, would go on to make 164 appearances for Everton, scoring 51 goals and was a pioneering figure for the club when Smith handed him the armband. Speaking to the ECHO when his former Goodison gaffer passed away in October 2021, Campbell told me: “He made me captain as well, the first black captain of Everton, which is something that I’m so proud of, and he was instrumental in all the good parts for me so I cannot thank him enough.”

Thank you ‘Super Kev.’ For once, your timing is all wrong... 54 is no age to go.