While there will be loud and heartfelt applause for Michael Turner from the Tiger Nation when his name is called at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, it's unlikely that equal warmth will be shown towards one of his new team-mates.
Fraizer Campbell's copybook with Hull City supporters was severely blotted over the summer as he procrastinated for what felt like an eternity over a proposed permanent move to the KC Stadium. Having scored 15 goals while on loan to us in the promotion season, he had become Phil Brown's number one transfer target the moment elevation to the Premier League was secured. Yet while the first effort to sign him failed without Campbell's involvement, the second attempt is entirely down to Campbell himself.
Manchester United accepted the bid from the only club permitted to bid for him, as a deal had been struck on a first refusal for Campbell as a consolation for missing out on the player when he was sent, reluctantly, to Tottenham Hotspur on loan to make sure of Dimitar Berbatov's journey in the opposite direction. Yet once City had survived in the Premier League, it seemed Campbell's love affair with the club - which he certainly had in the Championship, no question - had fizzled out.
Some were quick to blame the poor reputation Brown had acquired on a national level as City sank deeper into trouble during the post-festive half of last season for Campbell's change of attitude. That's hard to buy, given that Campbell knew Brown already and had flourished under his guidance in the Championship. But whatever the reason for it, there is little doubt that Campbell didn't endear himself at all to the Tiger Nation that once craved his services when he used excuse after excuse, involving his father, to delay giving City a decision.
Once his England under 21 duties were over and his family holiday completed, he finally had to make a decision. The deliberate delay had alerted Sunderland, and he seemed to take no time at all once he heard rumour of their interest to reject City and thereby nullify the first refusal agreement, allowing further suitors to come in. Sunderland bid and Campbell signed up at the Stadium of Light instantly, thus prompting an almost wholly fallow close-season of striker-hunting for the Tigers.
City should have done it better, of course, as they put all their eggs in Campbell's basket and trusted him to rejoin a club where he was already revered, leaving themselves with seemingly no back-up plan when the deal broke down and exposed to national ridicule until almost the start of the new season. Campbell had no obligation to join of course, but it did seem like he had a short memory, given the level of disrespect he offered to a club which had helped make him a name.
He'd have been better off saying no from the start.
Though looking at him now, he'd have been better off saying yes from the start.
After all, he's hardly pulling up trees at his new club.
A quick glance at the statistics shows that Campbell has been on the bench for each of Sunderland's opening four Premier League games and has yet to score. He will never displace a striker as proven (and expensive) as Darren Bent, and so the place of Kenwyne Jones must be his target. But both are scoring goals, even though their start to the season as a team has been mixed, and so Campbell will be benched again this weekend - and at the Stadium of Light, the subs have to warm up in the direction of the away supporters.
A small rumour has begun which suggests that an approach by the Tigers has been made to get Campbell on loan again. If this happens, he will be close to becoming the Gary Lund of modern-day City - ie, a centre forward who the manager really wants but can't have unless he keeps borrowing him. Lund came to Boothferry Park on three separate occasions in the 1990s and was (in relative terms considering the downward spiral of the club generally) a success each time, but Terry Dolan didn't have the money to buy him at any point.
Campbell went to Sunderland for the money, and maybe for the ambition, the facilities and blah blah blah. Unlike Turner, however, it seems he didn't go there to play football, something he would have done plentifully and with the status of a God-like figure had he chosen to return to the KC.
There is no intention to devalue his fabulous contribution to the cause when we won promotion, of course. Campbell was outstanding in the Championship and his name is secure, if somewhat tarnished these days, following that history-making campaign. But footballers tend to be remembered for their last act involving a club, and while Turner's move evidently had diddly squat to do with Turner himself, Campbell's decision to bluff his way through a month's worth of negotiations and then sign for someone else at the drop of a hat will cloud his heroics on the pitch for some time, if not forever. Yes, we owe him a great deal, but our club gave him his first taste of glamour and reputation and so he owes us a bit too.
If he does come back on loan before long, I cannot wait to hear what he has to say about his antics over the summer, assuming someone dare ask him. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing him doing comedy stretches on the touchline this weekend and little else.
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