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Tottenham fans ignore Sol Campbell’s pleas to stop singing derogatory chants

Tottenham fans decided ignore Sol Campbell’s pleas to stop singing derogatory chants about the former player prior to Saturday’s FA Cup win.

Campbell went to a newspaper and was interviewed as a way to plead with Spurs fans, hoping that they would put a stop to the degrading songs they’ve sung since he transferred to Arsenal in 2001.

The Guardian reports that the 48-year old also admitted to being abused personally and adds he wasn’t taking his three children to matches because they might be witness to the abuse.

Spurs fans could be heard singing the songs on Saturday evening at Preston’s Deepdale, even one that stated they would ‘have a party’ when Campbell passes away.

Campbell said: ‘It’s almost as though people have forgotten how to be human. Wishing and hoping that someone is going to die? And you’re going to be having a party? What world are we living in?

‘I know football has its tribalism but if no one around feels that this is unacceptable, well, we’re in a really sorry place.’

Tottenham fans weren’t happy when Campbell left his boyhood club to sign on a free transfer to join Arsenal. After a long and successful career at the club, Campbell won two Premier League titles before retiring in 2011.

Sol married Fiona Barratt one year later. They have three kids: Isabella, 11, Ethan, 9, and Georgiana, 7.

Campbell said the abuse frequently heard at football matches has prevented him from taking any of his children to a game. ‘No, never,’ he said. ‘It’s just the culture around the game. You want to protect them and you never know. I don’t want to go to a match and have someone who is not a fan of that particular club suddenly say something for no reason.’

The continuing treatment towards Campbell has appalled his partner. ‘She is disgusted,’ Campbell said. ‘And as a white woman and with the majority of people who are doing it being white men and boys, it’s quite scary.’

Campbell, who was 26 at the time of the Arsenal deal, admitted he might not have made such an incendiary move without the naivety of youth. ‘I was a young boy,’ he said. ‘I didn’t have a family. It’s a different story if I had kids. I might have thought differently. I don’t know. Maybe if I was 30 or 35, I’d have thought differently. But I was 26.

‘That’s not me now. Who stays the same every year or over every five years, let alone 22 years? I’m not 48 making that decision.’

He wants fans to give him some respite after all these years. ‘It’s a plea. I want a clean slate. Look into your hearts, look into your souls and give me a clean slate. Take me out of the caricature and see me as a human being.’

Heung-Min Son’s two strikes in the second half had Tottenham cruising through to the FA Cup fifth round.

The Korean has struggled for goals all season but delivered when they needed him most with Harry Kane unwell but still named a sub.

Loanee Arnaut Danjuma added a third off the bench.

Tottenham assistant manager Cristian Stellini to BBC: “We started very well. We hoped to start very well. We were ready and made good choices for the team. We need to say a lot of congratulations to the players.

“The three at the back today were so good, they played very well. We started the game with the right pace. The build-up from the back was good. [Preston] spent a lot of energy on running. In the second half it was easier.

“We have a tough schedule and we need to work. We have to recover energy, but we’re happy. This is the behaviour we want to see in every game.”

Preston boss Ryan Lowe to BBC: “With the first two goals we’d have obviously liked to get closer to [Son], but they were two top finishes. The third one is a little bit disappointing, and in the build-up to the third we should have had a foul, but there’s no disgrace in getting beaten by a team like that.

“We had a plan to get behind them a little bit more. We wanted them to go around us and not through us. If you get to 0-0 at 70 minutes, maybe they change their plan. We could have done a little bit better with the ball, but we were fantastic without it.”

“I needed those goals for my confidence,” Son told BBC Sport.

“As a striker or as an attacking player, the important thing is that you get that goal. It’s important that I could help the team go to the next round. I’m very, very happy.”

Here’s how Twitter users reacted as Tottenham fans ignore Sol Campbell’s pleas to stop singing derogatory chants…

@WestHamViews09: It’s like Fat Frank asking for forgiveness from us… Jog on. 😂

@PaddyODonoghue1: It’s about time the fans stop the chant about him dying. We can all dislike him for leaving the way he did but honestly it’s actually embarrassing the club listening to it over 20 years on. He shouldn’t even be mentioned at games anymore. Not a good reflection on our fans.

@JJohnson9193: Left that shambles of a club to WIN trophies, who could blame him? DOUBLE DOUBLE

@Huddy007: He made his bed years ago lie in it now he shit on his own fans the Judas

@myteaatom: Really should move on from these Sol chants.

@colin769: I side with the Spurs fans on this one, shit all over them leaving on a free to their biggest rivals! Go fuck yourself Sol

@Courtney__Wild: Sol Campbell chant in the first minute. His request for forgiveness went down well 🤣

@Jamie270: Baffling that Sol Campbell left Spurs about 67 years ago and they still chant about him every 5 minutes hahaha. Soo Campbell living rent free

@simbathecoolyid: Sol if you were a good man…you would have been accountable for your actions if you want a clean slate 🤷🏾‍♂️

@Smyth78: Yes I was around and totally unacceptable. What is the point in giving sol campbell air time in front of our own team? This including hating everything under the sun ie preston and arsenal in particular tonight. What an away support we have but the chants are cringing.

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