Is This the End for Sol Campbell?

At the time, it seemed like the most unlikely of scenarios: One of the greatest English defenders in a generation quits the Premier League to sign for League Two side Notts County.

The peanut gallery – including one of Sol Campbell’s former managers, Arsene Wenger – predicted that the “Sol Man” was in for a rude shock when he showed up for his first day and discovered the club’s inferior training facilities and less-gifted teammates. So no doubt there was a wave of I Told Ya So’s sweeping across the Web yesterday when the news broke that Campbell had indeed walked out on Notts County after playing only one match for them.

But the latest buzz is not that the club wasn’t good enough for Sol, but that Sol wasn’t good enough for the club. According to the Daily Express, the often-injured Campbell didn’t participate much during pre-season training, which delayed his debut for the club until last weekend’s match against Morecambe. Then on Monday, he was given the day off after complaining of a sore hamstring. Did he finally decide that his perpetual lack of fitness meant that he couldn’t even muck it up with the boys in League Two?

The bad news for Sulzeer Jeremiah Campbell is that he might have to wait until January before being allowed by the FA to sign for another club – unless he can prove there was legitimate reason for quitting Notts County.  That could scuttle any remote hopes he held of a spectacular return to defender-less Spurs and making the England squad for next summer’s World Cup. (Far-fetched, we know, but don’t forget that England’s current crop of first-choice center backs could star in their own episode of Casualty.)

So, with the prospect of three months out of action, surely the 35-year-old must be thinking: “Maybe I should just hang up my boots.”

Yep, that's really Sol. And he's not coming back.