Dick Campbell (footballer)


Richard Campbell is a Scottish association football manager and former player, who is currently manager of Arbroath.
Campbell's playing career was low-profile and is more known for his management career which includes successful lengthy spells at Brechin City and Forfar Athletic. He also managed Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline Athletic, Partick Thistle and Ross County. He has achieved five promotions at four clubs with the highlights taking Brechin from the fourth tier to the second tier and repeated the feat with Arbroath many years later.

Playing career

Campbell's playing career was mainly spent in the lower leagues of Scottish football. Having started out with Dundee United's youth system he then played for Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline Athletic, Ross County, Brechin City and East Stirlingshire.

Coaching career

Campbell has accrued more than 1300 games in the dugout either as an assistant manager or manager in Scottish football. He has won 3 separate Manager of the year awards and over 30 manager of the month awards in a career spanning decades.

Cowdenbeath

Campbell's first managerial experience was a short spell at the helm of Cowdenbeath in 1987, after which he returned to coaching at Brechin City.

Dunfermline Athletic

He moved to Dunfermline Athletic to become Bert Paton's assistant. Paton and Campbell guided Dunfermline to promotion in the 1995–96 Scottish First Division season, and also achieved their highest league position, finishing fifth in the 1996–97 Scottish Premier Division season. Paton and Campbell's team were known for their adventurous attacking style of play. They were also praised for their handling of the club during the time of legendary captain Norrie McCathie's tragic death. When Paton resigned in early 1999, Campbell was given temporary control of the team. After a 3-month probationary period, Campbell was made permanent manager at East End Park. However, he left before the end of the year, despite Dunfermline sitting top of the First Division; the club was taken over by new owners who decided Campbell wasn't their man.

Brechin City

After several months out of the game, Campbell was appointed manager of Brechin City in 2000, with Paton this time acting as his assistant. Over the following five seasons he helped Brechin rise from the Third Division to the First Division, despite their status as a part-time club. The chance to work with full-time players again tempted him to move to Partick Thistle in 2005.

Partick Thistle

Campbell took over as Thistle manager after the end of Gerry Britton's and Derek Whyte's reign as joint player managers. Initial success was gained, and he won a Manager of the Month award within a month of taking over at the club. Despite this early success, Thistle finished ninth at the end of the 2004–05 season, and were therefore relegated to the Second Division. In the 2005–06 season, he guided the Partick Thistle team to promotion through the play-offs into the First Division, after finishing fourth in the Second Division.
Campbell has been praised in recent times for his negotiation skills, with particular reference to the signing of Simon Donnelly at the start of the 2006–07 season. However, despite a decent start, a string of poor results saw Thistle languishing in the bottom half of the table and his tenure was ended on 27 March 2007.

Ross County

In the summer of 2007, Campbell was appointed manager of just-relegated Ross County, with the proviso that he would have only one chance at earning the club promotion, and would be sacked if he was unsuccessful. Ultimately, Campbell was not even given a full season in charge, and despite leading the club to the top of Division Two he was sacked on 2 October, allegedly for the team not playing a certain style of football.

Forfar Athletic

On 8 May 2008, Campbell was appointed manager of Scottish Third Division side Forfar Athletic. On 17 May 2010, he led the club to promotion to the Second Division after defeating local rivals Arbroath in the play-offs, a result which relegated the Red Lichties. Forfar went on to finish in the promotion play off positions in three of the four seasons in League One, missing out on the league championship on the last day to Greenock Morton in the 2014–15 campaign. Following an overhaul of the Forfar squad and a poor run of form midway through the 2015–16 campaign Campbell was sacked on Saturday 12 December 2015, after seven years in charge.

Arbroath

After leaving Forfar, Campbell made it clear that it was his intention to return to football management at the earliest opportunity. After less than three months out of management, Campbell returned to Angus after being appointed manager of Scottish League Two side Arbroath in March 2016. He led the "Red Lichties" to the Scottish League Two title in his first full season. In his second season, Arbroath finished 3rd and were narrowly beaten in the Championship play off semi final against Dumbarton. He then led Arbroath to the Scottish League One title in the 2018–19 season.

Personal life

Campbell has a twin brother Ian who is also a former football player and manager. They worked together for many years at both Dunfermline, where Ian was a coach, and Brechin City, where Ian was Dick's joint-assistant. When Dick left to manage Partick Thistle, Ian took over the Brechin managerial reins. The brothers were reunited at Forfar, where Ian assistant manager. The pair worked together once again at Arbroath.
Campbell's son Iain is also involved in football, with the left-back leaving Alloa Athletic during the 2009 close season to join his father at Forfar and so joining his brother Ross, who was already at the club.

Honours

;Brechin City
;Partick Thistle
;Forfar Athletic
;Arbroath