Football: Graham touts Campbell as an England captain

THE TOTTENHAM manager, George Graham, has declared that his skipper, Sol Campbell, can follow in the footsteps of the Arsenal leader Tony Adams and captain England.

Graham spotted Adams' leadership potential at an early age, promoting him to club captain before his 22nd birthday. Although he realises Campbell is a very different personality, more in the mould of Bobby Moore in that he leads by example rather than verbal encouragement, Graham is sure he has spotted a similar ability to captain England.

Graham has only worked with Campbell for a couple of days before his first match in charge of Spurs, against Leicester tonight at Filbert Street. Ironically this game pits him against Martin O'Neill, the man who may be his successor at Leeds. Yet he knows all about the centre-back's reputation and abilities, and the 24-year-old is sure to be the foundation of a revamped Tottenham defence.

The new Spurs manager said: "Sol is probably quieter than Tony, there's no question about that. He's also a bit older - I took Tony over when he was 21 and made him captain. He was a leader then. Tony expresses himself verbally. There are other players who are quieter but can express themselves with their mannerisms and the way they play.

"Bobby Moore was like that, and Sol Campbell looked a giant to me at Wembley last week against Bulgaria. He was probably man of the match. There's no question that Sol could captain his country."