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Richard Menzies Campbell (born 22 November 1953) is a Scottish
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
and former player, who manages East Fife. Campbell's playing career was low-profile and he is more known for his management career which includes successful lengthy spells at
Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club w ...
, Forfar Athletic and
Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...
. Campbell has also managed
Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...
,
Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...
,
Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...
and Ross County. He has achieved seven promotions at five clubs with the highlights taking Brechin from the fourth tier to the second tier and repeated the feat with Arbroath many years later. He was appointed East Fife manager in February 2024.


Playing career

Campbell's playing career was mainly spent in the lower leagues of Scottish football. Having started out with
Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...
's youth system he then played for
Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...
,
Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...
, Ross County (then in the Highland League),
Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club w ...
and East Stirlingshire.


Coaching career

Campbell has accrued more than 1,300 games in the dugout either as an assistant manager or manager in Scottish football. He has won four separate Manager of the year awards and over 40 manager of the month awards in a career spanning decades.


Cowdenbeath

Campbell's first managerial experience was a short spell at the helm of
Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...
in 1987, after which he returned to coaching at
Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club w ...
.


Dunfermline Athletic

He moved to Dunfermline Athletic to become
Bert Paton Bert Paton (born 29 April 1942) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He is best remembered for a long association with Dunfermline Athletic. An inside forward, Paton began his senior playing career with Leeds United, returning to S ...
's assistant. Paton and Campbell guided Dunfermline to promotion in the
1995–96 Scottish First Division The 1995–96 Scottish First Division season began on 12 August 1995. Overview The 1995–96 Scottish First Division season ended in success for Dunfermline Athletic who won the title by four points from nearest rivals Dundee United. Promotion an ...
season, and also achieved their highest league position in the new format, (pars had previously finished 3rd in the top league) finishing fifth in the 1996–97 Scottish Premier Division season. Paton and Campbell's team were known for their adventurous attacking style of play. They were also praised for their handling of the club during the time of legendary captain Norrie McCathie's tragic death. When Paton resigned in early 1999, Campbell was given temporary control of the team. After a three-month probationary period, Campbell was made permanent manager at
East End Park East End Park, currently named KDM Group East End Park for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium situated in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland with a seating capacity of . The stadium plays host to the home matches of side, Dunfermline Athle ...
. However, he left before the end of the year, despite Dunfermline sitting top of the First Division; the club was taken over by new owners who decided Campbell wasn't their man.


Brechin City

After several months out of the game, Campbell was appointed manager of Brechin City in 2000, with Paton this time acting as his assistant. Over the following five seasons he helped Brechin rise from the Third Division to the
First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...
, despite their status as a part-time club. The chance to work with full-time players again tempted him to move to
Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...
in 2005.


Partick Thistle

Campbell took over as Thistle manager after the end of Gerry Britton's and
Derek Whyte Derek Whyte (born 31 August 1968) is a Scottish former association football, footballer, who played for Celtic F.C., Celtic, Middlesbrough F.C., Middlesbrough, Aberdeen F.C., Aberdeen and Partick Thistle F.C., Partick Thistle. He also won twelve ...
's reign as joint player managers. Initial success was gained, and he won a Manager of the Month award within a month of taking over at the club. Despite this early success, Thistle finished ninth at the end of the 2004–05 season, and were therefore relegated to the Second Division. In the 2005–06 season, he guided the Partick Thistle team to promotion through the play-offs into the First Division, after finishing fourth in the Second Division. Campbell has been praised in recent times for his negotiation skills, with particular reference to the signing of Simon Donnelly at the start of the 2006–07 season. However, despite a decent start, a string of poor results saw Thistle languishing in the bottom half of the table and his tenure was ended on 27 March 2007.


Ross County

In the summer of 2007, Campbell was appointed manager of just-relegated Ross County, with the proviso that he would have only one chance at earning the club promotion, and would be sacked if he was unsuccessful. Ultimately, Campbell was not even given a full season in charge, and despite leading the club to the top of Division Two he was sacked on 2 October, allegedly for the team not playing a certain style of football.


Forfar Athletic

On 8 May 2008, Campbell was appointed manager of
Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...
side Forfar Athletic. On 17 May 2010, he led the club to promotion to the Second Division after defeating local rivals Arbroath in the play-offs, a result which relegated the Red Lichties. Forfar went on to finish in the promotion play off positions in three of the four seasons in League One, missing out on the league championship on the last day to Greenock Morton in the 2014–15 campaign. Following an overhaul of the Forfar squad and a poor run of form midway through the 2015–16 campaign Campbell was sacked on Saturday 12 December 2015, after seven years in charge.


Arbroath

After leaving
Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...
, Campbell made it clear that it was his intention to return to football management at the earliest opportunity. After less than three months out of management, Campbell returned to
Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...
after being appointed manager of
Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...
side
Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...
in March 2016. When appointed manager Arbroath were 8th in League Two and the immediate priority for Campbell was to steer the team clear of the relegation play-off spot. Though the end to the season was largely lacklustre with several disappointing results, Campbell did achieve his immediate remit as Arbroath avoided a bottom place finish and finished 9th. Before the 2016–17 season, kicked off confidence was starting to grow that Arbroath could mount a serious title challenge. Campbell was keen to construct his own side and was active in the summer transfer window, with signings including Ryan McCord and Colin Hamilton. These acquisitions helped to bolster a squad which many felt had sufficient quality, mainly provided through star-man Bobby Linn, but lacked the confidence required to succeed. However, Campbell was able to guide the "Red Lichties" to the
Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...
title in his first full season. In his second season, Arbroath finished 3rd and were narrowly beaten in the Championship play off semi final against Dumbarton. He then led Arbroath to the
Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...
title in the 2018–19 season. In the 2019–20 season, a season curtailed by the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Campbell guided Arbroath to a historic league finish of 5th – the club's highest in many decades. Gayfield Park quickly became a notoriously difficult venue for away teams to visit as The Lichties became effective at using the bitterly cold and gusty wind conditions to their advantage. Campbell helped to provide the biggest upset of the entire Championship season as Arbroath became the only team to defeat eventual champions Dundee United at Tannadice. Arbroath improved on this performance in the 2021–22 season, as they challenged for promotion to the Premiership. With two games remaining they were within one point of league leaders
Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...
, and the one automatic promotion place. They then lost 2–1 at Kilmarnock in the penultimate match, despite having led for most of the game. That result sealed the league title for Kilmarnock and meant Arbroath went into the playoffs, where they lost on penalties to Inverness CT. Campbell struggled to build on this near-miss, however, as the team finished 8th in the
2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
season and narrowly avoided relegation. He left Arbroath on 25 November 2023, following a Scottish Cup defeat by The Spartans.


East Fife

On 6th of February 2024, Campbell was announced as the new manager of East Fife, replacing Greig McDonald who had resigned earlier that week.


Personal life

Campbell was brought up in
Hill of Beath Hill of Beath ((; ) is a hill and a village in Fife, Scotland, just outside Dunfermline and joined to Cowdenbeath. On 16 June 1670 the Hill of Beath was the location of a celebrated meeting of the Covenanters at which preachers John Blackadder ...
. He has a twin brother, Ian, who is also a former football player and manager. They worked together for many years at both Dunfermline, where Ian was a coach, and Brechin City, where Ian was Dick's joint-assistant. When Dick left to manage Partick Thistle, Ian took over the Brechin managerial reins. The brothers were reunited at Forfar, where Ian was assistant manager. The pair worked together once again at Arbroath. Campbell's son,
Iain Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a pop ...
, is also involved in football, with the
left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...
leaving
Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...
during the 2009 close season to join his father at Forfar, and so joining his brother Ross, who was already at the club. Campbell was awarded the
British Empire Medal The British Empire Medal (BEM; formerly British Empire Medal for Meritorious Service) is a British and Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth award for meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the Monarchy of the United Ki ...
(BEM) in the
2023 Birthday Honours The 2023 King's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms of King Charles III to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part ...
for services to association football and the community in Angus.


Honours

;Brechin City *
Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...
: 2001–02 *
Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...
promotion: 2002–03 ;Partick Thistle *
Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...
play–offs: 2005–06 ;Forfar Athletic *
Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...
play–offs: 2009–10 ;Arbroath *
Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...
: 2016–17 *
Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...
: 2018–19 ;East Fife *
Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...
play-offs
2024-25 A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...
Is also credited with creating the word "equalise" when discussing an epic 1-1 draw for Brechin against Forres Mechanics. Brechin equalised in the 15th minute of injury time.


Individual

*Forfar Athletic ** SPFL League One Manager of the Month: October 2014; March 2015; *Arbroath ** Scottish League Two Manager of the Year: 2016–17 ** Scottish League One Manager of the Year: 2018–19 ** Scottish Championship Manager of the Year: 2021–22 ** SPFL Championship Manager of the Month: February 2021


Managerial statistics


References


External links

* * () {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Dick 1953 births Living people Arbroath F.C. managers Brechin City F.C. managers Brechin City F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. managers Cowdenbeath F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. managers Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. managers Partick Thistle F.C. managers Ross County F.C. managers Ross County F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers Scottish Professional Football League managers Scottish Premier League managers People from Hill of Beath Scottish twins Highland Football League players British identical twins Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from Fife Recipients of the British Empire Medal Identical twin males East Fife F.C. managers