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Andy Campbell enjoyed a Roy of the Rovers-style rise to prominence with home town club Boro when Bryan Robson handed him his Premiership debut against Sheffield Wednesday at the age of 16.

Blessed with searing pace, the flame-haired striker went on to score seven goals in 35 appearances, including four in the top flight and and an FA Cup header in Boro’s fourth round win over Manchester United at the Riverside in 2002.

Campbell joined up with former Boro boss Lennie Lawrence when he made a £1m move to Cardiff later the same year after falling down the pecking order under Robson’s replacement Steve McClaren, and he still enjoys hero status among Bluebirds fans after coming off the bench to score a spectacular promotion-clinching, play-off final winner against QPR.

The former England Under-21 international added a Scottish Cup runners-up medal with Dunfermline to his trophy collection after leaving Cardiff, and finished his playing career at a lower level with Farsley Celtic, Bradford Park Avenue, Whitby and Norton after an achilles tendon injury cut his professional days short while at Halifax.

Now 37, the father-of-two currently works as a PE teacher and manages Northern League Division One club West Auckland.

Adam Steel spoke to Campbell about his diverse career and the ambitions he still has in football.

This is part 2 of our interview. You can read part 1 by clicking on the link below.

Were you able to do yourself justice when you broke through? You had some difficult players to dislodge in front of you, like Ravanelli for example.

“I was always told that I was one of the quickest players around and I always made sure my touch and workrate were right so no one could question that part of my game.

“I just didn’t get to that next level.

“When people progressed from England Under 21s to the full squad - Lampard, Gerrard, Ferdinand and Michael Owen and Francis Jeffers - I just didn’t get to that next level.

“Maybe it was because I left Middlesbrough too early, I don’t know, but I just didn’t get to that next level and that’s what probably held me back.

“I’m not saying there wasn’t an opportunity, because the opportunity was there from the 21s.

“But I just didn’t get to that next level.

“Whichever door that was opened, I just didn’t do enough to get there.

“Michael Owen was ahead of me with the 21s and he was just too good to break down.

“I was never going to get to that level - he was superb.

“People were just better than me and that’s the way it was.

“Ravanelli was hard to get out of the Boro side.

“But I’ve got no regrets, like I say.

“All of those players were around to improve me and I played with Michael and roomed with him at England Under 18 and Under 21 level.”

You wrote something on Twitter recently that you still have to pinch yourself that you played in the same Boro team as Juninho.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

“He was unreal.

“To make his debut in the Premier League as a young Brazilian player against Leeds, to be five foot whatever he was and slip through an inch perfect pass for Jan Fjortoft set the tone for his whole career at Middlesbrough for me.

“It was disappointing to see him leave but then he came back and it was great because I’d set my standards up that I’d played with him.

“He broke his leg and things happened to him personally, but he was great.

“To see him in training, he would do something different every day and everything he did was effortless.

“It was all professional at the same time, but it was also a bit of fun to him.

“He always had a smile on his face and he had never seen snow before he came over here.

“He is the only player I’ve ever seen train wearing a balaclava.

“We were training at the Riverside on a random Tuesday or Wednesday when it was snowing and he came out wearing this balaclava.

“We all thought he was going to take it off, but he just didn’t.

“We were all wetting ourselves laughing but he kept it on and he was still brilliant.

“He didn’t need to see left and right when he could see the things on a football pitch that he sees.

“Things like that are great memories.”

Steve McClaren’s arrival at the club after Bryan Robson got sacked signalled the beginning of the end of your Boro career.

“Everyone is given a clean slate when a new manager comes in and I don’t really think I was given one.

“When he came in I trained on my own quite a lot and I don’t believe I was given an opportunity.

“I scored against Man United and thought I did alright, and I was gone by the Wednesday on loan to Cardiff.

“It’s one of those things.

“Deals are always done well in advance of them going through, I’m not daft enough not to know that.

“Speaking to my agent, they were talking two weeks before that and Lennie (Lawrence) had made contact months before.

“So I was happy to go. We beat Man United on the Saturday and Sunderland on the Tuesday in the two games before I left.

“I went on a high and scored against a top, top side in the world and left on good terms really.

“Steve McClaren’s ideas were his own and he had sports scientists and Bill Beswick as a psychologist.

“I’d known Bill from before when I was with the Under-21s because he was with the England set-up.

“When he came to Middlesbrough it wasn’t my thing at the time.

“Maybe now that I’m a little bit older and more grown up I would take things like that a bit more seriously, but back then it wasn’t for me at that time.

“Hearing things like ‘stay in the green, don’t go into the red’ - if my reaction to that was me being immature or mature, I don’t know - but it just wasn’t for me at the time.

“I took it seriously, but it didn’t affect my performance.”

With all of that said, Cardiff sounds like it was the perfect fit for you after Boro?

“It was. I had never lived in a city before, and I wasn’t a big fan of London.

“The Cardiff fans are passionate and Ninian Park was a bit like Ayresome Park.

“It was a family club and Kav (Graham Kavanagh) was there and a couple of other lads who I knew, as well as Lennie.

“Lennie was the main reason I went there, and he flew up to Middlesbrough to speak to me.

“I was on the fence about it, so he came back again and I decided to go.

“He showed me all around the first week I went down there because Kav wasn’t there, he was on international duty.

“But Lennie was superb, he really helped me out.

“The fact that I knew people there already, I went in there full of confidence straight away and I hit the ground running.

“It worked out great and I’m very fortunate that the fans still love me down there.

“I gave my all and to score the goal in the play-off final alone would have probably given me hero status.

“The fans loved me and I loved them and I’m passionate about football.

“The fans are still great with me and send me messages on Twitter every time there is a QPR game or play-off game or end of season game.

“I hope the club get back to where they need to be, and I hope I played a part in what they are achieving now.

“It’s good to be remembered.

“I love all of the teams I’ve played for, especially Middlesbrough and Cardiff.

“I’ve got a special affiliation with Cardiff because my first daughter Kennedy was born there in 2004 and as a family we had a great time there and met some great friends.

“We always go back and I can’t wait to go back and potentially go and watch a game.

“I would like to go back for a Middlesbrough-Cardiff game in the Premier League ideally, that would be nice.”

That half-volley you scored deep into stoppage time on your left foot in the Division Two play-off final against QPR in 2003 was an absolute belter. Did you feel like you were going to make a game-changing impact when you came off the bench to replace Robert Earnshaw 10 minutes before the end of normal time?

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“I’d had a hernia six weeks before so had only played in the second leg of the semi-final.

“It was touch and go that I was going to be involved and I had been sore for weeks building up to that.

“I was thinking it wasn’t going to be right and two days before training I did a bit of running and fitness and felt great.

“I’d had a good six weeks and felt refreshed and I wanted to play.

“In the warm-up I felt great and I just had a good feeling when I came on.

“I had my head around penalties and wanting to take a good penalty and being the match-winner scoring the winning penalty.

“So I was quite confident, but to score in the way I did and at the time I did was a dream come true and I would never change it.

“I’ve watched the goal back millions of times and when I hit it I just knew it was going in.

“I’ve spoken to Chris Day, who was the QPR keeper, a couple of times since and he just couldn’t have got any closer to the ball without catching it.

“I’ve spoken to Ian Holloway a couple of times about it since as well, and immediately after the game he was great.

“We had a pint and he must have been absolutely devastated, but he was still gracious.

“The timing of it couldn’t have been any worse for him with six minutes left in extra time.

“He just said as soon as I’d hit it he knew it was a goal.

“I was just fresh and confident and looking back now it had been a frustrating season for me.

“I was injured, I’d done my hernia and groin throughout the season and it had been hit and miss, but it finished on a wonderful high.

“I’ve had seasons where I’ve played 46, 50 games and not felt half as good as that.

“The feeling when the goal went in was just madness.

“I knew where my family were sitting and I shared a room with one of the lads who wasn’t in the 16, Gethin Jones.

“He said that if I scored to come and celebrate for him and I asked him what he wanted me to do.

“We always used to do this gesture where we would put our hand under our chin and say ‘keep your chin up’.

“He was sat with my family and I did the celebration and after that it was all pile on.

“One of the lads who had come off with cramp even came sprinting down to join in.

“It was a great day and it’s something that no one can ever take away from me, along with my England caps and the Man United goal for Middlesbrough and the Young Player of the Year trophy I won at the club and match balls and Century Radio bottles of champagne.”

What was the story of your career after Cardiff?

“I left to go to Scotland after Cardiff, and got a Cup Final runners-up medal after Celtic smashed us 3-0 in the final.

“Roy Keane scored a header when I should have marked him.

“I don’t know why I was asked to mark him, I couldn’t head the ball and now I’m asking players as a manager to mark people!

“Then with my daughter being young we decided to come home.

“I wanted to get a club closer to home so we based ourselves in Middlesbrough and I signed for Halifax.

“It was only then that I ruptured my Achilles and that was more or less it for me.

“I snapped 99% of it in a game and it was the worst feeling and the worst pain.

“I couldn’t get it going after that.

“I had an operation without speaking to the surgeon and he more or less said after that things weren’t going to be the same and that I would struggle to play professionally.

“That was hard to take, but I was happy in a way that it was out of my control and it wasn’t something I did.

“It’s just the nature of the beast.

“I felt as though I could still play once a week, but not train every day.

“After a Saturday game I would still be sore on a Monday or Tuesday, so as long as I played on a Wednesday I would be normally alright.

“I dropped down in levels, but I still wanted to play and I enjoyed playing.

“My standards are still high and I still wanted to be the best and I still wanted the clubs to be run professionally.

“I still put a shift in and wanted to score as many goals as I could, and then when I decided to stop playing that was me done.

“I still play now and again and in charity games when people want me and need me, but playing competitive football is over for me.”

Now it’s all about management then and seeing where it takes you?

“I’ve played at every single level in English football, from the Premier League down to the Northern League, and that has got to count for something.

“I’m happy and content where I am at this level.

“If I get an opportunity, who knows what my decision would be, but at the minute I’m content in challenging myself where I am.

“We escaped relegation at West last year, and I was always confident that we would.

“Next season I want to make sure it doesn’t happen again and that we progress.

“I would be happy with mid-table.

“That’s progress for me - I don’t want to run before I can walk.

“Some supporters are talking about top five, top six.

“I’m content and I’ve set standards for myself and if we exceed them then great.

“If we don’t then I will look at myself and look at the group I’ve got.

“But hopefully I can keep improving.

“I can’t just stand still and look back thinking we got promoted at Norton and won a cup and we stayed up at West Auckland.

“I don’t see that as an achievement, I see it as something that needed to be done, and next season I want to try and achieve something and help players move on to bigger and better things.

“No manager stood in my way when I was playing, so why would I do that now with other players?

“I’ve made management mistakes in the past, and I’ve got to learn that people try and wind me up because of who I am.

“But I’m learning and I’ve got Richie (Storr) alongside me and I’m looking forward all of the time.”