THE angry mood in the England and Arsenal camps may have eased slightly yesterday when Sol Campbell escaped a suspension for kicking out at Eric Djemba Djemba, of Manchester United, in the Community Shield at the Millennium Stadium in August.

Campbell had originally been charged with violent conduct under rule E2, which carries a maximum suspension of three matches, but the FA disciplinary committee amended the charge to one of improper behaviour. Although he will not miss any matches, the central defender was fined £20,000 and warned about his conduct.

After avoiding a second ban this season, Campbell may be one of the few players in the England squad feeling relatively positive about the governing body, even if the decision to hold his hearing so soon before a vital match called its timing into question.

The comparative leniency of the sentence suggests that the panel took into account that Campbell’s flick was unlikely to inflict much damage, relative to the reckless, studs-first lunge that provoked it.

Many, though, will also interpret it as the FA exercising a degree of restraint in the prevailing atmosphere of hysteria. It avoids feeding Arsenal’s growing persecution complex and will certainly not increase any sense of grievance within an England camp where the players are already smarting from what they perceive to be the unfair treatment handed out to Rio Ferdinand.

Alternatively, the FA may have considered that a stiff sentence for a relatively minor misdemeanour would leave it with nowhere to go when other Arsenal players come before it on charges arising from the events that followed the match between United and Arsenal at Old Trafford last month. If they plan to throw the book at Martin Keown and company, then a relatively slim volume lobbed gently in Campbell’s direction makes sense.

Campbell had reacted angrily to a waist-high challenge from Djemba Djemba by flicking his foot backwards, catching the Cameroon midfield player’s backside with his heel. The offence was not seen by Steve Bennett, the referee, but appeared in his match report after he had seen it on a video replay.

Campbell, who missed important matches at the end of last season, including the FA Cup Final, after being controversially sent off for elbowing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the match against United at Highbury on April 16, was also dismissed in Arsenal’s opening Barclaycard Premiership fixture this season, at home to Everton — six days after the incident involving Djemba Djemba — for a professional foul, to incur an automatic one-match suspension.