Suddenly the Champions League win against PSV Eindhoven in midweek doesn't seem as important to Sol Campbell. The Arsenal and England defender hasn't forgotten his roots and nobody played a more important part in his fantastic career than Len Cheesewright, the man who discovered him.

 

Len died this week just a few months into his retirement following 40 years of being one of the best football scouts around. For Leyton Orient and then Spurs, Les discovered some great talent along the way - including the likes of Dave Webb, John Chiedozie, Laurie Cunningham and Glenn Roeder.

Sol was the jewel in his crown and on Friday the Newham-born player told us: "It saddens me greatly to hear Len has passed away.

"Len was a good man who played a significant part in my early development as a footballer. He discovered me as a youngster and I will be forever grateful.

"My thoughts are with his family."

Sol was spotted by Len at the age of 13 playing Sunday football in Newham. He stuck out his team-mates by having time on the ball - and ignoring the boisterous antics of the rest of the lads.

"I really saw something special straight away," Len told me this summer before a special testimonial between West Ham and Leyton Orient.

"He was playing midfield but always seemed to have time on the ball. Even then he was so strong and had a terrific physique, but it was more than that. He had two good feet and worked hard.

 

"I went over to the team's manager and asked if I could have a word with the kid. He was so shy and modest I almost had to persuade him to have a go with Spurs, that he would be good enough to train with the rest of the youngsters."

Len was chief scout at Spurs for 14 years upto the mid-1990s but he recalled his greatest achievement was persuading the club to take Sol on.

"I went into Terry Venables, who was the manager, and some of the coaches and said 'I think I've found a special player'. But of course the big clubs have heard it all before; they weren't convinced.

"Anyway, they allowed him to join in evening training sessions. I used to pick Sol up from his terraced house in Plaistow, in east London, and drive him to the club. Once Spurs saw a bit of him they knew they had to keep him.

 

 

"The trouble was they didn't know his best position. Wherever he played in the youth team, he was the best player on the pitch - sometimes as striker, sometimes in midfield, sometimes as a defender.

"I always thought he should be a midfielder because of his strength but Sol was adamant centre-half would be his position. Even so, I remember his debut for the first-team was up front!"

Sol stood out from the other youngsters because he was quiet by nature and always willing to listen.

"But he was also a very independent boy," insisted Len. "After I gave him a lift to Spurs a few times, he said he would make his own way there - he just didn't like accepting favours. He used to get a tube from Plaistow to Liverpool Street and then a bus upto White Hart Lane. It used to take him an hour-and-a-half but he wanted to make it on his own."

Sol showed such good potential in his early days at Spurs he was among the first batch of young players to be invited to the National School of Excellence at Lilleshall.

"He was always the type just to get on with things. He wasn't really boisterous, which is unusual in the game for players!"

The pair last met up a year ago at a testimonial for Orient player Steve Castle, with Len saying at the time: "I am sure Sol knows I'm very proud of what he has achieved in the game.

"I had to stick up for him in the early days, persuade other people he was going to be a star. But I never imagined he would have such a great career.

 

"I think it took a lot of courage for him to go to Arsenal. But it's worked out - if anything he has got even better in the last year.

"He came from a very normal background and now he earns a lot of money. But he is still a genuine bloke, and from experience I know you can't say that about every professional player!"

Today its Sol's turn to remember the man who put him on the right road.