Sven disappointed by Campbell exit

Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed his personal frustration at Sol Campbell's departure from Notts County and questioned the former England defender's motives.

Campbell quit the ambitious Coca-Cola League Two club on Wednesday just five weeks after signing a five-year contract reportedly worth in the region of £40,000 a week.

The 35-year-old defender made just one appearance for the Magpies - in a 2-1 league defeat at Morecambe last weekend - before deciding he was unable to commit to the long-term project under new owners Munto Finance.

Eriksson was instrumental in bringing Campbell to Meadow Lane having managed the player during his time as England boss.

Asked if he felt personally let down by Campbell's decision, County's director of football admitted he and everyone associated with the club shared that notion.

"Yes a little bit, but I think everybody has the same feeling - the players, the coaching staff, the directors and the fans because he is a big football name and a very important player," Eriksson told Sky Sports News.

"I am very disappointed, very much so because we signed him and we thought we would have him for a long time. He would have been an important player for us, but that's life. He didn't like it, so he went."

It has been reported that Campbell had quickly become disillusioned with the club's rate of progression during his short stay.

Eriksson insists that reason would be grossly unfair should it be true, but claims not to know why the former Tottenham, Arsenal and Portsmouth centre-back walked away.

"The real reasons, I really don't know. He didn't like the training pitch, the dressing room, things like that. But he knew that before because we showed him around before he signed," said the Swede.

"I don't think that's fair at all. We all know it is a long-term project. Since the new owners came in they have taken on seven or eight new players. You can't build a new training ground in four or five weeks, that takes time.

"It takes time to make the stadium better, it can't be done over a weekend so I think that's unfair."

Eriksson rejected suggestions that he could follow Campbell out of the club and insists he remains committed to guiding the Magpies back towards the upper reaches of the English league.

He added: "We know that we are not perfect at this moment, but it's a long project and that project goes on without Sol Campbell.

"We are all sorry that he has gone but the project is the same, nothing has changed. I am not leaving."

The Football League is investigating the takeover at Meadow Lane by Munto Finance, whose money has made signings such as Campbell's possible.

Intrigue surrounds who is actually behind the Switzerland-based consortium, with executive chairman Peter Trembling, the former commercial director at Everton, fronting the investors.

The Football League has not yet rubber-stamped the takeover and is demanding to know the identity of the club's owners.

Eriksson said: "I haven't met the people, I have only met the representatives for the owners but I am sure that everything is all right.

"The money comes in so everything is normal. I am not worried at all about what is being written about what's going on behind the scenes.

"I don't know where the money comes from, I think that's for the chairman to know, and I am not really interested in it. The important thing is that the money comes."