| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Richard Menzies Campbell | ||
| Date of birth | (1953-11-22)22 November 1953 (age 72) | ||
| Place of birth | Dunfermline, Scotland | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | East Fife (manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1970–1971 | Dundee United | 0 | (0) |
| 1971–1974 | Cowdenbeath | 55 | (11) |
| 1974–1975 | Dunfermline Athletic | 14 | (0) |
| 1975–1977 | Ross County | ||
| 1977–1983 | Brechin City | 157 | (7) |
| 1983 | East Stirlingshire | 17 | (3) |
| Total | 243 | (21) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1987 | Cowdenbeath | ||
| 1999 | Dunfermline Athletic | ||
| 2000–2005 | Brechin City | ||
| 2005–2007 | Partick Thistle | ||
| 2007 | Ross County | ||
| 2008–2015 | Forfar Athletic | ||
| 2016–2023 | Arbroath | ||
| 2024– | East Fife | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Richard Menzies Campbell[1]BEM (born 22 November 1953) is a Scottishfootballmanager and former player, who managesEast Fife.
Campbell's playing career was low-profile and he is more known for his management career which includes successful lengthy spells atBrechin City,Forfar Athletic andArbroath. Campbell has also managedCowdenbeath,Dunfermline Athletic,Partick Thistle andRoss County. He has achieved seven promotions at five clubs with the highlights taking Brechin from the fourth tier to the second tier and repeated the feat with Arbroath many years later. He was appointed East Fife manager in February 2024.
Campbell's playing career was mainly spent in the lower leagues of Scottish football. Having started out withDundee United's youth system he then played forCowdenbeath,Dunfermline Athletic,Ross County (then in theHighland League),Brechin City andEast Stirlingshire.
Campbell has accrued more than 1,300 games in the dugout either as an assistant manager or manager in Scottish football. He has won four separate Manager of the year awards and over 40 manager of the month awards in a career spanning decades.
Campbell's first managerial experience was a short spell at the helm ofCowdenbeath in 1987, after which he returned to coaching atBrechin City.
He moved to Dunfermline Athletic to becomeBert Paton's assistant. Paton and Campbell guided Dunfermline to promotion in the1995–96 Scottish First Division season, and also achieved their highest league position in the new format, (pars had previously finished 3rd in the top league) finishing fifth in the1996–97 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 captainNorrie McCathie's tragic death. When Paton resigned in early 1999, Campbell was given temporary control of the team. After a three-month probationary period, Campbell was made permanent manager atEast 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.
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 theThird Division to theFirst Division, despite their status as a part-time club. The chance to work with full-time players again tempted him to move toPartick Thistle in 2005.
Campbell took over as Thistle manager after the end ofGerry Britton's andDerek 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 the2004–05 season, and were therefore relegated to theSecond Division. In the2005–06 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 ofSimon Donnelly at the start of the2006–07 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.[2]
In the summer of 2007, Campbell was appointed manager of just-relegatedRoss 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.
On 8 May 2008, Campbell was appointed manager ofScottish Third Division sideForfar Athletic.[3] 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.[4]
After leavingForfar, Campbell made it clear that it was his intention to return to football management at the earliest opportunity.[5] After less than three months out of management, Campbell returned toAngus after being appointed manager ofScottish League Two sideArbroath in March 2016.[6] When appointed manager Arbroath were 8th in League Two and the immediate priority for Campbell was to steer the team clear of the relegation play-off spot. Though the end to the season was largely lacklustre with several disappointing results, Campbell did achieve his immediate remit as Arbroath avoided a bottom place finish and finished 9th.
Before the2016–17 season, kicked off confidence was starting to grow that Arbroath could mount a serious title challenge. Campbell was keen to construct his own side and was active in the summer transfer window, with signings includingRyan McCord andColin Hamilton. These acquisitions helped to bolster a squad which many felt had sufficient quality, mainly provided through star-manBobby Linn, but lacked the confidence required to succeed. However, Campbell was able to guide the "Red Lichties" to theScottish 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 theScottish League One title in the2018–19 season. In the 2019–20 season, a season curtailed by theCOVID-19 pandemic, Campbell guided Arbroath to a historic league finish of 5th – the club's highest in many decades. Gayfield Park quickly became a notoriously difficult venue for away teams to visit as The Lichties became effective at using the bitterly cold and gusty wind conditions to their advantage. Campbell helped to provide the biggest upset of the entire Championship season as Arbroath became the only team to defeat eventual champions Dundee United at Tannadice.
Arbroath improved on this performance in the2021–22 season, as they challenged for promotion to thePremiership.[7] With two games remaining they were within one point of league leadersKilmarnock, and the one automatic promotion place.[8] They then lost 2–1 at Kilmarnock in the penultimate match, despite having led for most of the game.[9] That result sealed the league title for Kilmarnock and meant Arbroath went into the playoffs, where they lost onpenalties toInverness CT.[10]
Campbell struggled to build on this near-miss, however, as the team finished 8th in the2022–23 season and narrowly avoided relegation. He left Arbroath on 25 November 2023, following a Scottish Cup defeat byThe Spartans.[11]
On 6th of February 2024, Campbell was announced as the new manager of East Fife, replacingGreig McDonald who had resigned earlier that week.[12]
Campbell was brought up inHill of Beath.[13][14][15][16] He 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 was assistant manager.[17] The pair worked together once again at Arbroath.[18]
Campbell's son,Iain, is also involved in football, with theleft-back leavingAlloa Athletic during the 2009 close season to join his father at Forfar,[19] and so joining his brother Ross, who was already at the club.[20]
Campbell was awarded theBritish Empire Medal (BEM) in the2023 Birthday Honours for services to association football and the community in Angus.[21][1]
Is also credited with creating the word "equalise" when discussing an epic 1-1 draw for Brechin against Forres Mechanics. Brechin equalised in the 15th minute of injury time.
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Cowdenbeath | 1987 | 1987 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 041.67 | |
| Dunfermline Athletic | January 1999 | November 1999 | 31 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 029.03 | |
| Brechin City | 2000 | January 2005 | 171 | 77 | 32 | 62 | 045.03 | |
| Partick Thistle | January 2005 | March 2007 | 103 | 40 | 26 | 37 | 038.83 | |
| Ross County | June 2007 | November 2007 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 050.00 | |
| Forfar Athletic | 8 May 2008 | 12 December 2015 | 346 | 141 | 72 | 133 | 040.75 | |
| Arbroath | 8 March 2016 | 25 November 2023 | 322 | 130 | 89 | 103 | 040.37 | |
| East Fife | 6 February 2024 | 87 | 42 | 17 | 28 | 048.28 | ||
| Total | 1,084 | 450 | 255 | 379 | 041.51 | |||