Ince sceptical over Campbell racism claims

In a new authorised biography serialised in the Sunday Times, Campbell stated that he was denied the opportunity to permanently skipper his country for a decade because of the colour of his skin. 

However, Ince, who became the first black player to captain England in a friendly against the USA in June 1993, believes his former international team-mate's comments are wide of the mark. 

"Sol has every right to his view and we all have opinions, but in my experience I just didn't see it," Ince told the Daily Mail.

"I was an England player, an England captain, I didn't think about it.

"I have no reason to believe they are racist - who are we talking about? I loved people like (ex-FA executive director) David Davies and I just never encountered it.

"I didn't deal with the FA often enough, but there was never any issue over my skin colour with my team-mates or people I came across within the organisation."

Ince also feels Campbell's claim that he could have held the England captaincy for 10 years is unrealistic.

"There's been me, (Tony) Adams, (Stuart) Pearce, (David) Seaman, (Alan) Shearer, (John) Terry, (Rio) Ferdinand - that's a lot of big names with a lot of big egos," he added.

"Sol's a clever, articulate man and he's a friend of mine but he wouldn't have been England captain for 10 years - nobody is."