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Sol Campbell, defensive colossus, used to let his football do the talking. Today, it is hard to get a word in edgeways.

The former Tottenham, Arsenal and England defender is returning to our screens tonight as presenter of a Panorama special, Jobs for the Boys. He follows four unemployed black youths as they attempt to get a job in David Cameron’s Britain. Their repeated rejections illustrate the shameful statistic that unemployment among British black males aged 18-25 has doubled since the recession, rising to 55.9 per cent last year — compared with 23.0 per cent for young white males. As Campbell points out, this is not new information — it is simply under-reported.

For this reason alone, the film deserves to be seen — and Campbell makes an engaging presenter, bringing anger and articulacy to the issues. “It costs a lot of money for all these people to be unemployed,” he says. “No one’s really thinking about it in that way. Of course, there are some people who won’t help themselves. But there’s a lot who are passionate, who have the right qualifications and the right attitude — and they just face blockages.”

We meet in an Italian café near his Georgian townhouse in Chelsea. At 38, with a little grey in his stubble, Campbell still has energy to spare. “With sport, once you’re 35, your career is over. You have another 40 years to fill. That is hard to come to terms with — it takes time.” He has a lot of things “bubbling”, including his burgeoning interest in art prompted by his wife, interior designer Fiona Barratt, and he is studying for his Uefa coaching badges. In the meantime, he is proving an unlikely journalist. He appeared on Panorama last year, warning black English fans to stay away from Poland and Ukraine during the European Championships. Now, he says: “I’m trying to paint a picture — to tell the stories behind the figures, so people can feel it.”

With black youth unemployment, “the devil is in the details,” he says — it cannot be reduced to one cause. “I got them to look up the statistics in boom times, too. There was less unemployment in general — but there was still a 20 per cent gap between black and white men,” he says. The issues of race and employment have evidently struck a nerve — and not only because Campbell is now considering his own future.

Campbell’s own parents both came to Britain from Jamaica in the post-war period. His father Sewell worked for London Underground; his mother Wilhelmina in the Ford factory in Dagenham. They alternated day and night shifts as they could not afford childcare for their 12 children, of whom Sol is the youngest.

He remembers sleeping four to a room in the family’s terraced house in Stratford. “I had to grow up fast. At meal times, if you were too slow, the food was gone. I had a mental strength and a discipline about me when I came to football, which helped in the long term. It’s helped me get through the tough moments in my life.”

There have been a surprising amount of them. He started at Tottenham — where even at 18 he cut a noble figure. After his controversial transfer to Arsenal (where he earned £100,000 a week) he went on to win many domestic honours, notably as the defensive heart of the “Invincibles” of 2003/04. He won 69 England caps and was voted into the Fifa XI at two consecutive World Cups. Yet when he finally retired last year, playing only a handful of games at Newcastle United, only a few football columnists took notice. Compare and contrast with Sir Alex Ferguson.

He denies race played any part in his decision to leave Spurs for Arsenal, saying “some of the first-team players and the whole set up wasn’t to my liking at the time”. Still, the circumstances of his departure — on a free transfer no less — turned him from Tottenham’s talisman into a “Judas” figure. The derision was compounded by his refusal to conform to what was expected of a footballer. “If you’re an actor who goes to art galleries, that’s fine. It’s even fine if you’re a tennis player or a cricketer. If you’re a footballer? No! Someone from working-class Stratford — he can’t be like that!”

Despite his having high-profile relationships with singer Dido, tennis player Martina Hingis and interior designer Kelly Hoppen, the tabloids persistently hinted he was gay. One vile White Hart Lane chant revelled in the idea that he was HIV-positive.

While race was not the focus of the abuse directed at him, he believes it was a significant factor. “It was camouflaged — but there was racism in there. Luckily it hasn’t destroyed me. I could have easily said, ‘I don’t want to do anything for this country any more’. I could have taken my family and money and gone to build something somewhere else.”

He is proud of the way he dealt with it. However, it has left him with a sense of angered bewilderment. “It’s like: ‘Hello?’ I’m one of the greatest defenders ever in this country — ever.” His voice is high with disbelief. “I played six competitions for England on the bounce. I was the first black man to lift a trophy at Wembley. But no one cares about that. They just talk about the crap. It’s a sad reflection of some people in football, in the media — and in general life too. It’s like they wish I hadn’t become successful.”

Campbell has plenty to be positive about — not least since his two-year-old daughter was recently joined by a son. Is he still tempted to gather his family and leave? “We’ll see,” he says. “When the Government has stopped listening to people, and is just looking at the short game all the time … when they make it so difficult for people who are starting from the bottom and trying to work their way up, a lot of people will start to think about going somewhere else.”

Perhaps he should go into politics? Like most footballers, he says, he likes “the mentality of Labour but the policies of the Conservatives … If you’ve come from nothing, worked your way up, paid all your taxes, got to the top — and someone comes and says they want more tax? That’s not fair.”

And then he is off — onto Grade II-listing status, Boris bikes (he thinks the local docking station should be moved) and council tax bands. I sense he could be talking his way into politics. “This area needs more people on the shop floor. People who have the foresight, who are going to say how it is,” he concludes.

Sol for Mayor!