I didn’t have a great time at university. Academically it was fine – got in, got a 2:1 in history and got out – but socially I struggled. There were various reasons for that, a fair few of which were definitely my fault. Like joining zero societies. Like joining the uni magazine but writing zero articles for it. And like what happened on my first night there.
It was about 6pm on Monday 27 September 1999 and I was back in my dorm after registering for my courses, checking out the library and buying my first pint of milk and loaf of bread from the campus shop. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. It was Daniel, the lad from the next room, and he was standing alongside two girls I’d never seen but who were really attractive.
“You all right mate,” Daniel said. “This is [can’t remember her name] and [can’t remember her name]. We’re heading out for freshers if you fancy coming along.”
Now, any normal 18-year-old would have jumped at the chance to get uni life off in this way. Good times undoubtedly awaited. Great times, even. Times that would live long, long in the memory. Sadly, I wasn’t any normal 18-year-old.
“Thanks for the offer mate but I’m going to stay in and listen to Liverpool versus Everton on the radio,” I replied. “I’m a big Liverpool fan”. Cue looks of shock and confusion on their faces. I think one of the girls may have called me a “massive weirdo” as they walked back down the corridor.
And so, as the rest of Royal Holloway, University of London partied, I sat alone on a single bed and tuned into coverage of the 161st Merseyside derby on BBC 5 Live. And what an awful derby it was for anyone of a red persuasion as Liverpool lost 1-0 at Anfield on the back of a poor performance in which two of their players were sent-off, resulting in their left-back, Steve Staunton, going in goal.
An evening of frustration and farce, then, for the hosts, while for the visitors it was one to well and truly savour. Victory over their most hated rivals on their own turf, leading to wild celebrations in the away end. Indeed that triumph a little over a quarter of a century ago remains the last occasion Evertonians were able to enjoy derby glory inside Anfield given the only time it has happened since was in February 2021 when the ongoing trauma of Covid meant matches taking place in spectator-free stadiums.
So it remains a special night for Everton and, as such, it is apt that their winning goal was scored by a special player. Kevin Campbell was the man in blue who struck and, in that moment, sealed his place in Goodison folklore. They still talk about “Super Kev” there to this day, albeit such conversations have taken on a poignant tone since Campbell’s sudden passing in June due to serious illness. He was only 54.
“Devastated to hear the news about Kev. Thinking about all his family and friends,” wrote Wayne Rooney on social media in tribute to a mentor during his early years at Everton, while Tony Adams, who was Campbell’s captain at Arsenal as he himself matured into a first-team footballer, described him as a “giant of a man with an even bigger heart”. The most powerful and heartbreaking tribute came from Campbell’s son, Tyrese. “The pain of this is indescribable,” said the 25-year-old, a striker in his own right with Sheffield United. “He is my idol, the one I wanted to be when I grew up. I’ll miss you dad. Love you always.”
Campbell was adored, in latter years for his bow-tie-wearing stints as a pundit as much as anything else, and of the eight clubs he played for in a career spanning 19 years none welcomed him back more fondly than Everton. It was, after all, the nine goals he scored in his first eight appearances after arriving on loan from Trabzonspor – a place he was desperate to escape having been racially abused there by the then chairman, Mehmet Ali Yilmaz – that essentially kept them up at the end of the 1998-99 season. And after the move was made permanent via a £3m transfer that summer, he went on to be the club’s top goalscorer for the next two seasons, as well as their first black captain.
Leader, inspiration, goalscorer: it all came together for Campbell on Merseyside, and it was there, too, that he carved out the standout individual moment of his career, one that continues to make Evertonians of a certain age party like it’s September 1999.
The goal at Anfield arrived after only four minutes through a combination of Liverpool sloppiness and Everton decisiveness. Michael Ball took a throw-in from in front of the Centenary Stand, launching it in the direction of Nick Barmby as a man who would make a controversial switch across Stanley Park less than a year later lurked on the near corner of the area. Barmby was prevented from receiving the ball after Vegard Heggem stepped in front of him and made a clearance. However, the Norwegian right-back hit the ball straight into the chest of Dietmar Hamann and, as it rebounded back, Barmby was on hand to seize possession. He turned, took a touch and played a pass towards the ‘D’. It was anyone’s but soon became Francis Jeffers’ after the 18-year-old cleverly stepped out of the area to collect the ball, then cooly played a perfectly weighted first-time pass back into it. Step forward Campbell.
Jeffers’ strike partner appeared to be offside as the ball came to him in open space parallel to the penalty spot but was being played onside by Jamie Carragher. It was dozy defending by the 21-year-old centre-back and Campbell took full advantage, steading himself having run off the back of the hosts’ other centre-back, Sami Hyypiä, before hitting a first-time shot past the outrushing Sander Westerveld. The Dutch goalkeeper got a hand to the ball but not enough to prevent it going into the net. Cue bedlam among the travelling supporters, including half a dozen or so who had managed to get on to the Kop.
“When the ball hit the back of the net [I saw] little pockets of Blues jumping up,” Campbell said in a 2021 interview with The Sportsman. “That was, and still is, one of my favourite memories in football.
“As the ball got played into Franny Jeffers and he reversed it to me, it bounced at an awkward height, but I just thought: ‘Hit it down as best you can’ and luckily for me it caught the keeper unawares. I was so proud we had scored early and held out.”
And Everton fully deserved to. As Paul Joyce wrote in his report for the Daily Post, the visitors had been “swift and incisive, controlled and thoughtful” in their 5-3-2 shape, keeping Liverpool at bay with their collective, aggressive pressing. The home team barely created a chance, their best probably Erik Meijer’s deflected long-range shot in the second half that force Everton’s goalkeeper, Paul Gerrard, into a low save at his near post.
More than anything, Liverpool lost their heads. Michael Owen was lucky not to be sent-off by the referee, Mike Riley, on 26 minutes for a two-footed lunge on David Weir and, two minutes into stoppage time, the 19-year-old midfielder Steven Gerrard was dismissed by Riley for a foul on Campbell that was as high as it was out of control. Westerveld and Jeffers also saw red on 75 minutes for fighting inside the area, and with all three substitutes on for Liverpool it fell to Staunton to don the keeper gloves.
That the Irishman performed well in an unfamiliar role was the only positive for Gérard Houllier in the 10th game of the Frenchman’s first full season as sole manager of Liverpool. For his counterpart Walter Smith came a first derby win and a rare moment of jubilation during the Scot’s four-year tenure at Everton. Fans and players were ecstatic, the latter marking the triumph with drinks on the Albert Dock, which for Campbell led to a somewhat awkward encounter. “I went to the loo and, as I walked in, there was just one person at the urinals and he looked familiar – it was Steven Gerrard,” he told The Sportsman. “‘Oh no, Kev, I’m sorry [about the foul],’ he said. We had a laugh about it. Listen, he was a young lad and had made a bad challenge, but I didn’t feel it. Especially after a couple of beers.”
Meanwhile back at Royal Holloway, a middle-of-the-night fire alarm in my halls of residence resulted in me standing in the cold alongside a group of people I barely knew, or didn’t know at all. Daniel and the two girls weren’t there. Presumably they were still out.
A blue Monday in more ways than one, then, and for Campbell a moment to cherish during a cherished period of his life. “It was a match made in heaven and I think we needed each other, to be honest,” he told The Sportsman about his six years at Everton, during which he made 145 appearances and scored 45 goals. “When you’ve been at Everton and Everton have touched you, you know the feeling. I just wanted the fans to be happy.”