Kenneth Campbell (6 September 1892 – 28 April 1971) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, New Brighton,

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

and Leicester City. Campbell also played in eight full international matches for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

between 1920 and 1922.

Club career

Liverpool

Born in

Cambuslang Cambuslang ( sco, Cammuslang, from gd, Camas Lang) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

, Scotland, Campbell played for local Junior-grade teams

Rutherglen Glencairn Rutherglen Glencairn Football Club is a Scottish football (soccer), football club based in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, near Glasgow. Nicknamed ''The Glens'' and formed in 1896, they play at The Hamish B Allan Stadium (New Southcroft Park). G ...

and

Cambuslang Rangers Cambuslang Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club based in Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire. Nicknamed ''The Lang'', ''Camby'' or ''The Wee Gers'', were formed in 1899, they play at Somervell Park and wear blue strips (uniforms). They ...

in his early years; he won the

Glasgow Junior League The Glasgow Junior Football League (GJL) was a Association football, football league competition operated under the Scottish Junior Football Association between 1895 and 1927.

with the latter and twice represented

at that level. Liverpool manager Tom Watson brought him to

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

in May 1911. In a contemporary interview he credited

Donald McKinlay Donald McKinlay (25 July 1891 – 16 September 1959) was a Scottish footballer who played as a left back. He spent most of his career with Liverpool, winning the Football League title twice in the early 1920s. Early career Born in the hamlet ...

(a childhood acquaintance from his hometown) in assisting him during his early days at the club. Campbell did not make his debut until 10 February 1912 in a

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

match at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

, a game that saw the Reds lose to Blackburn Rovers 1–0. Known for having safe hands, the goalkeeper took over from

Sam Hardy Sam Hardy may refer to: * Sam Hardy (actor) * Sam Hardy (footballer) Sam Hardy (26 August 1882 – 24 October 1966) was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Football career In 1902, Chesterfield manager Jack Hoskin beat Derby Co ...

after Hardy moved to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, and proved to be just as secure as Liverpool's last line of defence. He only missed one game during the 1912–13 season, before he was replaced by his young understudy, Elisha Scott. Campbell did put up a decent fight for the number 1 jersey, playing in all but four games of the 1913–14 campaign, and he was between the sticks for the

1914 FA Cup Final The 1914 FA Cup Final was a football match between Burnley and Liverpool on 25 April 1914 at Crystal Palace, London. It was the final match of the 1913–14 FA Cup, the 43rd season of the country's primary cup competition, the Football Associat ...

at the Crystal Palace ground on 25 April. The game finished disappointingly for Liverpool, in a 1–0 defeat to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. The match was to be the last to be played at this venue and it was played in front of a reigning monarch for the very first time,

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

. Like many footballers of his era, Campbell's career was interrupted for four years due to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, however upon his return to the game in 1919 he found himself once again number 1 for Liverpool. He stayed there until April 1920, when he played what turned out to be his last game for the club.

Later career

Campbell left Liverpool in April 1920, returning to Scotland to play for

for a fee of £1750 where he played in the club's underdog victory in the 1921 Scottish Cup – still the only occasion they have won the trophy. He returned south of the border to New Brighton (primarily for family reasons, as they had remained on

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

when he went to Partick) before joining

in 1923. Campbell was used as second choice 'keeper to Bob Dixon and in his four seasons spent at the Victoria Ground he made 35 appearances. He then spent another four seasons at Leicester City before ending his career with a two-year spell with old club New Brighton.

International career

Campbell was capped eight times by

(four times while at Liverpool and four while at Partick), his debut coming in a

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

match at Ninian Park,

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 1920; the game finished in a 1–1 draw. He had also been selected in an unofficial wartime international in May 1916 (the only game of this nature during the course of the war itself).

Career statistics

Club

Source: Record of pre-war Scottish League Players John Litster / Scottish Football Historian magazine, October 2012

International

Source:

References

External links

Player profile at LFChistory.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Kenny 1892 births Liverpool F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players New Brighton A.F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers 1971 deaths Footballers from Cambuslang Cambuslang Rangers F.C. players Rutherglen Glencairn F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. wartime guest players Scotland men's wartime international footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Scotland men's junior international footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players British Army personnel of World War I