Dick Campbell (footballer)

Dick Campbell

Personal information
Full name	Richard Campbell
Date of birth	(1953-11-22) 22 November 1953
Place of birth	Dunfermline, Scotland
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1971	Dundee United	0	(0)
1971–1974	Cowdenbeath	55	(11)
1974–1975	Dunfermline Athletic	14	(0)
1975–1977	Ross County
1977–1983	Brechin City	157	(7)
1983	East Stirlingshire	17	(3)
Managerial career
1987	Cowdenbeath
1999	Dunfermline Athletic
2000–2005	Brechin City
2005–2007	Partick Thistle
2007	Ross County
2008–2015	Forfar Athletic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Richard "Dick" Campbell (born 22 November 1953 in Dunfermline, Fife) is a Scottish association football manager and former player.

Campbell's playing career was low-profile and is more known for his management career which includes successful lengthy spells at Brechin City and Forfar Athletic . He also managed Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline Athletic F.C., Partick Thistle and Ross County. He has achieved four promotions at three different clubs with the highlight taking Brechin from the old Scottish Third Division to the Scottish First Division which earned him his move to Partick.

Playing career

Campbell's low-profile playing career was mainly spent in the lower echelons of Scottish football. Having started out with Dundee United's youth system he then played for Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline Athletic, Ross County (then in the Highland League), Brechin City and East Stirlingshire.

Coaching career

Cowdenbeath

Campbell's first managerial experience was a short spell at the helm of Cowdenbeath F.C. in 1987, after which he returned to coaching at Brechin City.

Dunfermline Athletic

He moved to Dunfermline Athletic to become Bert Paton's assistant. He was afforded a second opportunity as a manager when Paton resigned in early 1999 and Campbell was given temporary control of the team. After a 3-month probationary period, Campbell was made permanent manager at East End Park. However he left before the end of the year, with his Dunfermline side struggling to match promotion ambitions.

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 5 seasons he helped Brechin rise from the depths of the Third Division to the First Division, despite their status as a part-time club. The chance to work with full-time players again tempted him to move to Partick Thistle in 2005.

Partick Thistle

Campbell took over as Thistle manager after the end of Gerry Britton's and Derek Whyte'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 Donelly at the start of the 2006–07 season. However, despite a decent start, a string of poor results sees 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 playing overly defensive football.

Forfar Athletic

On 8 May 2008, Campbell was appointed manager of Scottish Third Division 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. Campbell was sacked on Saturday 12th December 2015, after 7 years in charge, following a poor run of form.

Personal life

Campbell 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 assistant manager.

Campbell's son Iain is also involved in football, with the left-back leaving Alloa Athletic during the 2009 close season to join his father at Forfar and so joining his brother Ross at the club.

On 13 December 2009, Campbell, whose wife and sons are Roman Catholic, was reported by the News of the World as having sung Derry's Walls at a karaoke with Rangers fans in Seville. Campbell commented that he was embarrassed by the incident.

Campbell was diagnosed as suffering from kidney cancer in March 2011.

Honours

Individual

• Forfar Athletic
  • SPFL League One Manager of the Month (3): October 2014; March 2015;

External links

• Dick Campbell career at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
• Managerial Career at Soccerbase.com