Kevin Campbell was 'desperately unlucky' inquest into his death told (2025)

The former Arsenal and Everton player died at the age of 54 and lost a large amount of weight before his death - something doctors could have shown more curiosity about

Arsenal and Everton star Kevin Campbell was 'desperately unlucky', the inquest into his death has been told. The striker, who also played for Nottingham Forest and West Brom in a high profile career, was the family 'superstar' and was 'very, very loved by everyone'.

An inquest was today, Monday, April 14, held into his death. The hearing was told about "two completely separate and unrelated" issues that affected his heart in a short space of time.

A senior doctor said this was "desperately unlucky". The forward's relatives listened on remotely during the hearing, which examined delays in diagnosing his condition.

The hearing in Manchester was told that there was a delay in diagnosing a rare heart infection. Yet it was decided this “did not more than minimally contribute” to the death of the ex-footballer, whose career ran from 1988 to 2007 and saw him score 147 goals in 494 games.

He died aged 54 at Manchester Royal Infirmary (MRI) on June 15 last year. The hearing was told Mr Campbell was fit and well until around January 2024 when he was first admitted to MRI for seven weeks.

The inquest heard that tests showed he was suffering from severe heart and kidney failure. However, after treatment, including dialysis, he was deemed healthy enough to be discharged.

Mr Campbell lost weight during his hospital stay. It dropped from 124kg to 98kg - then plunged to just 59kg when he was readmitted two months later on May 17.

Area Coroner for Manchester, Zak Golombek, said Mr Campbell was “very unwell” at that stage. He said doctors felt there was some continuation of the heart and kidney failure, with signs of an infection of unknown cause.

His condition continued to worsen as further investigations and tests in early June confirmed a diagnosis of infective endocarditis, the hearing was told. Medical treatment then continued until his death from multi-organ failure.

The inquest was told that an internal investigation by the hospital accepted the infection – which was caused by bacteria entering the blood and travelling to the heart – could have been diagnosed sooner. It also concluded that “more curiosity” should have been shown by clinicians over Mr Campbell’s severe weight loss.

However, the hearing was also told that Mr Campbell would “almost certainly” not been been fit enough to undergo “high risk” open-heart surgery if the infection had been found earlier during his final admission.

The hearing was told that there was no evidence the infection – said to be “difficult” to identify – was present during his first hospital admission or at a follow-up outpatient appointment with a cardiologist on April 26. A conclusion of death by natural causes was recorded.

Mr Golombek said: “While it is my finding that there was delay in diagnosing infected endocarditis during that second admission to hospital, it also my finding that the delay did not more than minimally contribute to Kevin’s death on the balance of probabilities. Kevin died from a naturally occurring illness which very sadly on June 15 reached its natural end.”

Giving evidence at the hearing, MRI consultant Dr Robert Henney said: “Unfortunately he had two completely separate and unrelated insults to his heart in a short space of time, so he was desperately unlucky.”

No family members were present in person at Manchester Coroner’s Court. However, Mr Campbell’s brother, Harold, and sister, Lorna, followed the proceedings remotely.

Harold Campbell told the hearing that his brother was the family “superstar”. He said: “Kevin was very loved as a football professional, in the media and especially by the fans of the clubs he played for. He was very, very loved by everyone.

“From a family point of view, he was our superstar from his start in football at 13 years old. Everyone loved him, not only as a professional footballer but as a normal person. His football career was successful but after his retirement, I think everyone sort of got more in tune with his personality – a normal person and he was very, very loved.”

The forward was one of the best-known top-flight strikers of his day in England. He scored 59 goals in 224 games for Arsenal.

He won the 1990/91 league title, and the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup. He spent three years at Nottingham Forest after joining them in 1995.

He also had one season at Trabzonspor in Turkey before moving to Everton in 1999. He stayed at that club until 2005, where he spent time as captain under Walter Smith, and ended his career with spells at West Brom and Cardiff.

Mr Campbell worked in the media after his playing career and was a member of the Black Footballers Partnership. The organisation works to increase the voice and influence of black footballers.