Shared Shirts: Fraizer Campbell

Providing the assist for one of the biggest goals in City’s history, along with playing for England at Sunderland, we caught up with ex-striker Fraizer Campbell on his time at both clubs. 

Joining Hull City on loan in October 2007:

“I was playing in the cups for Manchester United and we got beat in one of the cups. The manager wasn’t happy, so he said I could go out on loan. Phil Brown must have spoken to the manager at some point and so I came over to Hull to meet Phil, and he sold me the dream,” said Campbell.

“You could probably get mixed reports, but for me, Phil was great. He was super confident. He had all the faith in my own ability for what I could do to help the team, and that's what you want as a youngster. At first, I was a bit hesitant. I think there were 16^th in the table at the time and I thought this was going to be tough, this team can't be any good, but once I came across and spoke to the manager, the rest is history.”

Scoring on comeback for Sunderland:

Scoring on his return in the FA Cup against Middlesbrough on 29 January 2012, the forward then netted in consecutive fixtures when rifling in the opening goal of the 3-0 win over Norwich City, a game that saw Campbell also register an assist for the second, before earning his solitary England cap against Netherlands.

“It was a whirlwind as I came on at half-time against Middlesbrough for my first minutes for 18 months, and I scored within 30 seconds of coming on. That is probably my favourite goal that I've ever scored of all time, because of how tough mentally and physically it had been. It felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulder in that one moment. And then I started at the next game against Norwich and I scored an absolute rocket. It felt like none of the past 18 months had happened."

Rejoining Hull City for second spell:

“The second spell, there was a different feel around the whole place. The club had just come down from the Premier League and a lot was changing. That second season, I tried to steady the ship and help the players like Jarrod Bowen, who was just getting his career started, as well as help the team with goals, assists and leadership off the pitch. Jarrod’s gone on to do great things and it's really nice to see that.

“I wish we could have done better. We should have been able to secure promotion, but that wasn't the case. I really enjoyed my time at Hull, because I left Crystal Palace and I wasn't playing much there. It would have been easy to just fade off into the distance, but Hull reignited my fire again and it was a pleasure to be there.”