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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Mark Jones

Peter Crouch explains why Sol Campbell was the worst trainer he ever played with

Peter Crouch says Sol Campbell was the worst trainer he ever played with during his long career, having initially been "brilliant" when they were together at Tottenham.

The pair first crossed paths at White Hart Lane when Crouch was coming through the ranks at Spurs and Campbell, who is six years his senior, was in the first-team.

But it was when they met again at Portsmouth in the 2008/09 season that Crouch says Campbell's efforts in training had changed for the worse, even though he never used to show it on the pitch in matches.

Former England forward Crouch was asked about the best and worst trainers he played with during his career for his Mail Online column, and had two choices for the best.

Crouch says Campbell's efforts in training caught the eye of his teammates (Getty Images)
The pair also played together for England (EMPICS Sport)

"I'd find it hard to separate Gareth Bale at Tottenham and Frank Lampard at England for being the best," he said.

"They did everything to squeeze every last drop out of themselves and you could guarantee they were always first out and last in from a session."

Then as he got onto the worst, Arsenal legend Campbell got a mention.

"The worst has to be Sol Campbell at Portsmouth," he continued.

Campbell wold prefer a massage to training (Getty Images)

"He had reached the end of his career by then and he'd probably lost some of his enthusiasm.

"You'd see him in the masseurs room of a morning, getting his legs rubbed, and Harry Redknapp would shout to him: 'You out today, Sol?'

'Not today,' would come the reply. He'd get plenty of stick for it but he felt he'd earned the right to do that and his performances at the weekend were never below par.

"I should add that I was a kid at Spurs with Sol and he was a brilliant trainer then."

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