Recalling Kevin Campbell's never-to-be-forgotten Arsenal heroics vs PSG in 1994 

AISA held fundraiser for Kevin Campbell Foundation with the much-loved Big Man's heroics vs PSG back in 1994 fondly recalled 

It’s 1994. Copenhagen.

The Cup Winners Cup final against Parma. Lee Dixon is reminiscing. ‘I gave two penalties away, absolute stone-wallers,’ he confesses, recalling the 1-0 victory. ‘How they didn’t get given, I don’t know.  The referee must have been on our side!’

Lee is talking to a packed Picturehouse auditorium in Finsbury Park.

Sitting alongside Alan Smith, Paul Davis and Andy Cole, he is remembering his time playing with Kevin Campbell, an Arsenal youth player who made good and went on to score 59 goals for the first team.

He played in that final against Parma, with Smith scoring the winner. ‘I was the hero, of course!’ Smith jokes.

But they all remember Kevin’s winner in the semis, against Paris St-Germain, a header following a cross from Dixon. ‘It wasn’t actually a great cross. It was a little bit behind him.’ Dixon admits. ‘He did brilliantly to get it. It was a crap cross, but I’ll take it!’

Everyone has gathered for a special AISA (Arsenal Independent Supporters’ Association) event, to remember Kevin, who sadly died in 2024, and to raise both awareness and funds for the Kevin Campbell Foundation. It’s a charity, set up by Kevin’s family, to continue the work he had been doing after he retired from football, to help disadvantaged children.

None of the ex-players can overstate how important Kevin was to George Graham’s side that won League and Cup titles along with the European trophy. 

‘Kevin was a combination of finesse and power, shrouded in a big personality’, says special guest, David Dein.

But it was Kevin’s personality they all remember best. ‘He fitted in so quickly. I’ll never forget that beaming smile. He was a great lad to play with’, Alan Smith recalls. ‘We built up a great understanding,’

Paul Davis agrees and goes on to describe how he and Kevin bonded through shared Caribbean backgrounds.

This, Davis says, helped create the personality of the “one-nil to the Arsenal” side. ‘Kevin brought something to our team that I don’t think many other teams had at that time – he brought his culture in, and that made us a stronger outfit.’  

‘He had so much charisma,’  says Andy Cole, an Arsenal youth player after Kevin had broken into the first team. ‘He was a special, special person.’

Cole also reveals that Kevin took on an unofficial role as “Entertainments Manager”, leading to escapades that would set social media ablaze if they happened today. 

‘He could organise a night out, and it’d be a good night out,’   Cole recalls, before adding how Kevin mentored him. ‘I’ll never forget those things that happened at the start of my career.

"He was the most generous man I’ve ever come across."

It’s that generosity of spirit and wanting to help others that underpinned Kevin’s life into retirement, and is central to the work of the Foundation set up in his name.

For more information on the Kevin Campbell Foundation, check out kevincampbellfoundation.com. 

For highlights of the evening, visit aisa.org