Don't you just love Craig Bellamy?

Full interview: Craig Bellamy on leaving Manchester City for Cardiff City and his colourful life in and out of football




Last year, after a decade in the Premier League, Craig Bellamy played for
Championship side Cardiff City. In an in-depth interview, the Welsh striker
explains his reasons for leaving Manchester City and why he chose to go to
Cardiff, as well as shedding light on all aspects of the Welshman's
life in football.
















Image 1 of 3


Word of advice: Craig Bellamy offers the youngsters some encouragement Photo: CBF/Brandt-Rousseau 2011





























By Arthur Renard

6:45AM BST 08 Jul 2011



1 Comment





At the end of last season, Championship side Cardiff City were defeated by
Reading in the Championship play-offs – ending Craig Bellamy’s dream of
helping his hometown club get back to the Premier League in his first season
there. ‘It’s a huge disappointment," he says, "The
main goal was to get promoted, so there is a big sense of failure really."

Promotion could have made up for his year in the Championship, which started
unexpectedly in August 2010. After falling out with Roberto Mancini at
Manchester City, he surprisingly left for Cardiff City. Apart from the
challenge of helping Cardiff to the top flight, he liked the idea of
spending more time with his family. The decision not to play at the highest
possible level was deliberate.


"This was not a football decision; I did this for my family. For the
first time in my career I put my family first. At the time, I thought it was
the best thing to do. And I have to say that to live here with my wife and
children, and to see them every day, is very important indeed.


"It was very challenging, that is all I can say. It is a completely
different game, not like any other league. The quality isn’t great, but
workwise it’s very competitive. You have to be fit and have a lot of power,
because it’s a very physical league. I knew that it would be difficult
sometimes and that there would be times when I wouldn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t
easy giving up the level that I was used to, when you’re always working so
hard."


Working hard. It is what Bellamy is accustomed to, and what has taken him so
far. Two and a half years ago, he earned himself a big transfer from West
Ham United to Manchester City. Under the familiar guidance of Mark Hughes,
whom he had worked with at both Blackburn Rovers and the Welsh national
side, he was playing the best football of his career.



Related Articles

• 
  
  Bellamy lifts lid on battle with Mancini
  
  
  08 Jul 2011
  
• 
  
  Is Qatar World Cup viable?
  
  
  07 Jul 2011
  
• 
  
  Ashley Cole - role model visible from outer space
  
  
  08 Jul 2011
  
• 
  
  Southgate has work cut out trying to change future
  
  
  08 Jul 2011
  
• 
  
  Zidane to be Real Madrid's director of football
  
  
  07 Jul 2011
  
• 
  
  Perth Glory's grounds for optimism
  
  
  07 Jul 2011
  

During the 2009-2010 season he appeared to be at the peak of his abilities.
Perhaps, that was partly due to the fact that he remained injury-free for
the entire season. In preceding years he had undergone a total of nine
operations. In fact, he had rarely played a whole season without being
sidelined at some point.

The difference now was largely due to new training methods, set up by
physiologist Raymond Verheijen. The Dutch fitness coach was hired by Hughes
as part of the innovative scientific team that was installed at Manchester
City specifically for injury prevention. The team designed a new training
schedule, in which every individual player had his own tailor-made
programme, and Bellamy was one of the players who benefited most.

"Verheijen obviously knew about my injuries, and the number of problems I
had. He saw that it was mainly to do with overtraining," says Bellamy. "I
probably used to work too hard and too long, and then tried to do that in a
game. I have never played more than 15 consecutive games in my whole career.
Usually every season I had been out for five or six weeks.

"Verheijen let you train shorter, with more intensity, instead of long,
tiring sessions where fatigue comes into play and your muscles will break
down. Besides that, you get more recovery time. Certain players need twice
the recovery time of others, because they run much more – not because they
put in more effort, but because they’re playing different positions.

"For example, a full back normally runs longer distances with higher
intensity than a centre half. Why should you say to them that they have to
work the same on a Monday? Some people have this idiotic attitude of
treating anyone the same. Verheijen explained it to me in a way that I
understood it. I took a lot of his ideas on board. His methods are very
good.

"Since I’ve been working with him, I have had no injuries. I will use his
methods for the rest of my life. I started that season (2009-2010) very
well; I had a great period up to Christmas, by being under him."

Bellamy had a strong second half of the season as well, but behind the scenes
it was different.

Verheijen left the club, after Hughes was sacked halfway through the season.
The owners found it necessary to replace him, in order to keep on track for
a much coveted top-four finish. Although Hughes was not far off that target,
he wasn’t regarded as the right man to lead the club to the next stage. The
decision to part company with him seemed to have already been made a couple
of weeks earlier, as he eventually got the sack in brutal fashion on 19th
December 2009 – of all moments, immediately after a hard-fought 4-3 win over
Sunderland.

Some claim that a few players had already been informed of Hughes’ dismissal
before the match. Bellamy, who played a big part in the victory, doubts that
version. He says he only realised it straight after the match in the
dressing room.

"Hughes didn’t say he was leaving," says Bellamy, "but he
spoke in a way which made it obvious. He told us: ‘Thank you for everything,
we’ll see what happens in the next few hours, but if it is the end, then I
hope you go on to do what I haven’t been able to do, and I wish you all
luck.’’

The players were upset, and wanted an explanation from the board. Contrary to
newspaper reports, Bellamy wasn’t one of the players who went to see CEO
Gary Cook.

"My name got dragged into it straight away, because of my relationship
with Mark Hughes. Some journalists, who weren’t there and who I don’t even
know, said that. To be honest, I was in too much shock to do that. And I was
too tired from the game as well, to walk up any stairs, you know. I only got
told by Shay Given and Kolo Toure. I know they were there."

It was a surrealistic day, especially after an unfortunately-timed planned
Christmas party in London went ahead later that night. Not everyone attended
the feast.

"Some players went, some didn’t," recalls Bellamy. "Everyone
had the choice. I went back home to Wales. It wasn’t right really. It was
tough, it was like losing someone. It was probably as bad as losing a family
member in some ways, I even struggled to eat for a few days. There were a
lot of things that went on. To me, it wasn’t just about football, there was
more that went on there."

Bellamy says he can’t go into too much detail because he is still employed by
the club. "It doesn’t do me any favours by speaking. But when you see a
man get sacked, and you see certain things put in place before he gets
sacked, than you understand what has just happened.

"This just didn’t happen over the final week, this had been happening for
a month or so."

On the night of Hughes’ dismissal, Roberto Mancini was announced as his
successor. The board assured Bellamy that the change of management wouldn’t
affect him, and that he would be allowed to retain his own private training
sessions – but this turned out not to be the case.

"It was a totally different structure, which affected me completely,"
says Bellamy. "Mancini told me to stay with the team all the time. We
had longer sessions, but with no intensity whatsoever."

Bellamy stressed the importance of retaining his own programme, but Mancini
was not sensitive to Bellamy’s arguments, and insisted on involving him in
every team session.

"He seemed to know my knee better than I knew it myself. He tried to
explain why I had problems with it, and what I should do about it. When I
told him that my knee was hurting, he tried to tell me that it wasn’t,"
remembers Bellamy. The friction between the pair quickly led to a
confrontation.

"Mancini wanted me to come in another day and do some work, but I told
him that I’d finished my work that day, that I was keeping to my own schedule.
And that was when he started about my programme, that I couldn’t follow my
own schedule while he was the manager, and that I had to do what he was
telling me. That was a week after he’d arrived, and then he never spoke to
me again."

After the outburst, the two met again with City directors Gary Cook and Brian
Marwood. Bellamy reminded them of the agreement that he could continue with
his own training programme, but they now told the striker that he must
follow Mancini’s instructions.

"We came to a truce that I had to do what he said. I had to stick with it."
Bellamy remained part of the squad for the rest of the season, in which he
continued to impress, scoring ten goals and playing a significant part in
the club’s top five finish. However, during the summer it became clear that
he wouldn’t be playing a big part in the new season. Soon there was another
clash, this time with far-reaching consequences.

"When I went into pre-season, the physiotherapist Jamie Murphy spoke to
Mancini and told him that I wasn’t able to do a lot of the things that
Mancini wanted, because it would cause a reaction in my knee. Mancini wants
to have it all."

Murphy, who recently parted company with the club after a rumoured rift with
Mancini, couldn’t help Bellamy, who joined in every training exercise.

"I went to the pre-season tour in America, trained with the squad, but my
knee blew up, and it became more swollen than it has ever been. I didn’t
know what to do. I couldn’t have turned around and said: ‘Look, I’m not
training.’ Because then they would have said that I refused to train and
that I didn’t want to be there. The same old rubbish. So I forced myself to
train even more."

A couple of weeks later, Bellamy landed himself in trouble when he vented his
anger in the media, regarding the circumstances at City. While on duty with
the Welsh national side, he described his poor relationship with Mancini in
an interview, and his presumption that he would be left out of the 25 man
squad. He hinted that he would be examining every option, from that point
onwards. On his arrival back in Manchester, he was criticised, then expelled
from the first team and instructed to train with the reserves from then on.

"That was difficult. How can I have such a good year, be one of the
players of the season, and then not be involved at all? While the first team
was getting ready for the first game of the season, I was training with the
young kids at the reserves. I had to show even more patience."

At that point, the club would have been content to sell him or send him out on
loan, but Bellamy wasn’t prepared to go to any team. In pre-season, he had
already said no to Juventus and Wolfsburg. There were rumours that City
wanted to use Bellamy in a swap deal for Wolfsburg’s Edin Dzeko, the striker
who did eventually come to City in the January transfer window.

"I had the idea that it was part of some deal. But it never got that far,
because I didn’t want to go. I spoke to Steve McClaren, who was the manager
of Wolfsburg then. I spoke out of courtesy, but my mind was already made up.
I do not see myself suited to that kind of football. The same applies for
the Italian league. I don’t like the Italian approach, I don’t want to be
involved in that kind of football."

Bellamy rather liked the idea of moving to Tottenham Hotspur, where Harry
Redknapp made an attempt to sign him on loan. This time though, it was City
who pulled the strings. The club didn’t want to loan him to a rival team.

"They didn’t allow me to go to Tottenham. There was no chance. They would
have let me go to a lower Premiership club, but for me, there was no
incentive to do that."

At Cardiff City, manager Dave Jones began negotiating a possible deal to bring
Bellamy back to his home town. He knew Bellamy wouldn’t be averse to such a
move – and in fact Manchester City welcomed the idea.

"They put it to me, would I like to come here. They said that they were
aware of the fact that I was constantly travelling to and from my home in
Wales, and asked me if I wanted to be with my wife and kids every day. That
was an attractive prospect."

After weeks of hard work, Jones finally managed to conclude a loan deal, in
which Cardiff have to pay only a small part of Bellamy’s wages.

"You have to be creative. And the manager kept trying. First, he was
turned away three times – it seemed as if it might not happen. But he kept
going, and got the deal in the end."

As soon as the deal was announced, everyone expressed their surprise with the
move, and wondered how it could be possible that a club with debts is able
to attract a top Premier League player on loan.

According to well-established sources, Cardiff City had to pay less than a
quarter of his wages, believed to be £20,000 of his supposed £90,000 weekly
salary – although if Cardiff had secured promotion, this would have invoked
a contractual clause requiring them to pay back a much more significant sum
to Manchester City. After failing to advance to the Premier League, Bellamy
has no clue at which club and in which league he will be next season.

One thing he does know for certain, though, is that he wants to become a
manager once his playing career has finished.

"I believe I have a lot to offer when I finish football as well. I always
said I didn’t want to become a manager, but I changed that view."

He has started a coaching course with the Welsh FA, where he hopes to gain the
required badges. He already holds his Uefa B-licence, and is now busy with
his A- licence, before he can complete the whole pro licence programme.
Besides the course, he will draw experience from all his own dealings with
managers during his own playing career. In addition to the fallouts, there
were managers who had a big impact on him. His biggest mentor was perhaps
Bobby Robson.

"That was a great man. He didn’t seem to be a tactical genius. You
wouldn’t understand a lot of the things he did, but it would always work.
You were thinking: ‘He is very lucky.’ But you cannot be lucky and
successful like him. He was just very clever. His man-management skills were
exceptional. With some boys he was very strict, and with others very
lenient. He treated every individual differently. You felt he cared about
you. If I got involved in an incident, he would side with me."

Bellamy experienced that for himself when he got into a big argument with
Newcastle’s assistant manager John Carver in March 2004. Robson played a
crucial role in resolving the matter.

"I had a really good rapport with Carver, and I still like him a lot. We
were maybe even too close as a player and coach. We are both very passionate
sorts of people, so when you get into an argument, it could escalate. The
initial reason for the argument was because I parked in his parking space.
If I came in before him, I would park in his space, to say: ‘As a coach, you
should be here before me.’ He wasn’t happy with that. I wound him up,
because I kept doing it."

The argument eventually erupted at Newcastle airport, from where the team was
flying to Mallorca for a Uefa cup match. The duo got into such a big row
that Bellamy wanted to go home.

"I wasn’t interested in going to Mallorca anymore. Then Robson came over,
and told me to walk with him, just the two of us. As we were walking, he
never once spoke about what just had happened. He was just asking how my
children were, how they were doing at school and how my wife was. The next
thing I know I was in the plane going up in the air. Clever man, see? That
night Robson came to my hotel room, together with Carver and captain Alan
Shearer. I was still angry about what happened, so I was ready to argue with
anyone. Robson diffused it, by blaming Carver, and made him apologise. In
the end, I couldn’t even argue, I had to agree with everything."

Although it was quickly resolved, the incident became infamous because Bellamy
had allegedly thrown a chair at Carver at the airport. "I wouldn’t
comment on that, ha ha. But it didn’t go anywhere near him."

Throughout his entire career, Craig Bellamy has been associated with incidents
– such as the Carver incident, and the occasion three years later when he
allegedly confronted team-mate John Arne Riise with a golf club, following a
row at a training camp in Portugal. Some people will always remember Bellamy
for his sometimes short-tempered character.

But there is another side to Bellamy too. A side which is not often exposed,
and which he doesn’t parade – a side showing care for his fellow man, and
genuine help for the disadvantaged. Apart from his football career, he has
his own foundation in Sierra Leone.

Four years ago, he came across the country by chance, and decided to start a
football academy after what he had seen.

"Two friends of mine got the opportunity to work in machinery there for a
couple of months. One of them is my best friend, and I told him that I would
like to visit him if he was still there had the season finished (2006-2007).
That is what happened. We spent the week just travelling the whole country.
I took a lot of football kit with me, which I got from my sponsor Nike. I
had loads of footballs, water bottles and bibs to give away.

"When we were travelling, and we saw a group of children playing
football, we would stop, give them a ball and join in for a bit. I noticed
that there were some exceptional players, but nothing was organised. There
was no league for kids."

Bellamy was impressed with the whole country and sometimes deeply touched by
the things he encountered. The idea of starting a foundation came to him
when he witnessed some extreme poverty.

"I went to an orphanage, where a woman was living with a group of young
children. It was incredible to see the time she gave for them. There were no
books, tables, pens. They didn’t even have any beds; they were sleeping on
the floor. Sierra Leone is a beautiful country, but one of the poorest as
well. Just completely under the radar.

"I have always liked the idea of doing something for children, whether it
would be here in Wales, or somewhere else. I wanted to do something
different, but it was difficult to find the right project. Once I offered my
primary school a donation of £25,000, but they were mainly questioning me,
why I was doing it and what was beneficial for me. They probably thought
that I was after extra publicity. If they had known me, they would have
known that was the last thing I wanted. So that didn’t happen.

"After I saw the orphanage, I thought about building one of these, or
maybe a school. But for education you have to pay, and if I was going to
make a free one, I would have 6 million children in school. The idea then
was of starting a football school for talented players, so that I could keep
the numbers down. This way, at least I could still make an impact on
children who otherwise would never have had this opportunity."

The idea was to use a scouting period to draft boys into the academy. But to
find the best football players wasn’t that easy in a country with no
structure.

"We would set up a football match in a village, but 5,000 young children
would turn up. It was very difficult to identify who was who. After that, we
set up leagues, to get it more organised. The trainers of all the teams were
coached by our academy. Every manager had to come on a two week training
course with us, were we educated them how to coach. Then we started an
under-13 league for the whole country, where they all played each other, so
that we got to see every individual."

As a result of the scouting exercise, thirteen boys finally got the chance to
enter the academy. They each signed a five-year contract, during which time
all their needs are guaranteed – food, accommodation, ground staff, teachers
and football managers. They are in their third year now. Bellamy is solely
responsible for the whole project.

So far, he has invested £790,000 of his own money. A certain amount of his
wages goes into the academy. He aims to give the children an education for
life. "It is not just the football; it is about giving them something
for the future. If someone becomes a doctor or a lawyer, that would be even
better. Someone who hasn’t quite reached the level to become a football
player can still go on a scholarship to America. When they leave the
academy, they will have a good chance to find a good job."

But the boys themselves surely all dream of a professional football career.
The academy team plays their football games in a youth league, which was
originally introduced to scout players, before it was maintained and adopted
by UNICEF. It became the CBF (Craig Bellamy Foundation) league, divided into
four regions. For every competing team in the competition, there is a large
emphasis on attending school.

"Everyone has to buy into the whole project. If a child doesn’t turn up
at school, the manager will go to his house and ask his parents why he
wasn’t in school. Without a valid reason, he is refused permission to play.
If you do well in school, it adds to your goal difference. And for community
work in your local neighbourhood you get awarded extra points."

Unicef funds the league, investing $200,000 a year. A large part of that goes
to the full-time coaches, who check every child is going to school. Since
the take-off, truancy numbers have gone down significantly.

In the meantime, Bellamy is in the middle of building an academy next door for
girls. There is already a league for women, and a league for amputees.
Everywhere you go in Sierra Leone, you will be reminded of the many civil
wars that have ravaged the country. The general response to Bellamy’s
project is therefore usually one of shock.

"People always ask straightaway: ‘Why there?’ They still expect children
to be walking around with AK-47’s. It is not like that, although you do see
a lot of amputees, and in some places you’ll see the worst of humanity. You
see what decades of wars and fights can do. Politically it is very stable
now.

"That was important if I was going to do it. It is moving forward, it is
becoming a modern place. It is still very poor, but I’ve seen more business
there over the last few years and roads are getting built and finished. You
still face corruption; it is a way of life. The money usually doesn’t go to
the right people; it doesn’t go to the people who need it. If you donate, it
is not guaranteed that it is going to them in the first place. And if it
does, it is only going to be short term anyway.

"For charities, it is very easy to go there and say: ‘We will give you
this, but we can go back now and our conscience is clear.’ That solves the
problem today, but tomorrow they will have an even bigger problem. So that
is why it is better to give them the opportunity to work, so that they are
able to do something about their futures, so that you are giving them hope.
In the next few years, this academy will be theirs. They will take it over,
and the aim is that it will be run by people from Sierra Leone. In my
dealings with African people, I have found out that they don’t want you to
just give them things. They just want the opportunity to work for
themselves. They respond more than anyone you can imagine, because they want
to work, they want things to be better."

Bellamy sees the willingness of the people, and is sure he can contribute to a
change. Since that first holiday there, Bellamy has been back every summer,
spending a week to see all the boys, watching them both in training and in
school. In some ways, they are like his own children. His commitment to the
cause in one of the poorest places is praiseworthy.

"Part of the reason that I’ve done it, is because no one else had done it."
Bellamy usually chooses his own, rather than the conventional way. If he
feels he should do something, he generally follows that instinct. During his
time at Newcastle, he once took a friend into his house, in order to help
him get rid of his heroin addiction.

"He was a very close friend. I remember when I was seventeen; he even
accompanied me to the hospital to see my just-born son for the first time.
This friend had a number of problems though. He was using a drug, where you
need a certain standard of living to sustain that addiction. He was involved
in a lot of stealing, even in people’s houses. He was on a very bad path,
and went to jail in the end. When he came out, I invited him to stay with
me, to see what we could do about it. Unfortunately, he fell on the same
path again."

Bellamy says it was difficult to remain in contact.

"Look, we all make mistakes. That is no problem. But you have to be
willing to make up for your mistakes and to help yourself. Otherwise you can
bring other people into danger as well. You can try to help people as much
as you want, but it comes from the individual. He wasn’t quite prepared to
take that next step."

Yet this episode shows Bellamy truly wants to help others, and that he follows
his true feelings, even if it is unfashionable. It is the same attitude
which has brought him trouble too.

During his career, his passionate character has led to his involvement in some
disturbances, both on and off the field. He will fight false authority and
will stand up for himself, if he feels that he has been the victim of an
injustice. He generally speaks what is on his mind.

That quality is something, he says, which is often attributed to Dutch people.
No wonder he developed good friendships with some Dutch players who he has
played with in the past, like John Karelse and Patrick Kluivert at
Newcastle, and Nigel de Jong at Manchester City.

He admires their attitude, and recognises similarities in his own character:"People
say I’m Dutch."

The affection seems to be mutual. Apart from the character, he likes the Dutch
game as well. The ‘total football’ is something he wants to adopt if he
becomes a manager. "I have always said that Holland is a place where I
admire the football. If I go into management, I want to go that way about
it. I want to build from the back, make the pitch seem as big as possible
when we have the ball, but as soon as we don’t, make the field tight, to win
the ball back as quickly as possible. It is all about movement and speed."

Bellamy likes the technical approach, and illustrates this with an example. "If
you run with the ball, shoot from 40 metres out and it goes wide, in Holland
you get booed. Here, you would get a cheer, because at least you had an
effort. I feel the approach over there is right, because you have just
wasted good possession.

"I feel it would be very important for me to go abroad in my career at
one stage, to give me the best chance of being a good manager. I think it
will give me such an advantage above a lot of people. I would love to have a
period in Holland, to travel around, go to a lot of the clubs and look at
their structure. I will definitely spend a period there."

Once he gets his final coaching diploma, he aims to start with youth teams,
something else he likes about the Dutch mentality.

"In Holland, the best coaches with the Uefa badges usually start with the
youth, before they build their way up. Here, managers start directly at the
top. So we have average coaches teaching the kids. But it should be the best
teaching the kids, because how do you expect them to become the best?

"If you start in the youth, you have an impact, and you’re learning as
well. I can try and do things with 16/17 year old kids, and not be too
concerned about results. I can’t do that at the first team level, because if
your results doesn’t come off, next month you will be getting sacked. It is
all about preparing yourself. As a player, I’ve always tried to give myself
the best opportunity to become the best I can. I would apply the same
attitude if I went into coaching. Why shouldn’t I try to be the best coach
in the world?"

His aim to start with the youth explains why he wasn’t interested in managing
Cardiff City, a position he was linked to after Dave Jones was sacked at the
end of May. Bellamy first wants to gain experience. And if he goes to
Holland, he might combine it with playing for Feyenoord. He has developed a
soft spot for the Rotterdam side over the years and he likes the idea of
playing for them, although he realises that it would be difficult to
accomplish. As a child, he developed a fondness for the club after seeing
matches on TV, and was especially impressed by both the De Kuip stadium and
Feyenoord’s loyal supporters.

His admiration was confirmed when he played a memorable Champions League match
there in 2002 with Newcastle. Everything from that night is still in his
mind.

"That was one of the best games I have been involved in. We went two-nil
up after I scored the first goal, before they got it back to two-all. Then,
in stoppage time, I scored the winning goal, which meant we went through to
the last 16 in the Champions League. You couldn’t have written the script
any better."

That was when the idea of playing for the Dutch club first crossed his mind.

"When I went there, and experienced that night, it was like: ‘It would be
nice to play for these fans every week, with that atmosphere.’ It is just
what that stadium is able to generate, it’s a special place. For me, the
devotion which the Feyenoord supporters have for their team is probably what
makes the whole thing so unique. Feyenoord is facing a difficult period at
the moment, but the fans still go to the stadium and watch the games. That
is when you know you are special, only true clubs are able to do that."

Bellamy says that he follows Feyenoord’s results, and watches weekly
highlights of the Eredivsie (Dutch league). If he leaves the UK during his
playing career, Feyenoord will be his favourite pick. And, according to
Bellamy himself, it could have already happened last summer, despite the
Dutch club’s huge financial problems. He is aware of the fact that Feyenoord
couldn’t spend any money on new acquisitions.

"Exactly, but nor was the club I’m at now. Would you have said a year ago
that I would be playing for Cardiff City? That was very unlikely, probably
the least likely of all clubs because of their situation and financial
problems. How can you go to a championship team, when they’ve spent all
summer with a transfer embargo, and aren’t allowed to let players go or
bring players in? It would have been more likely for me to go to Feyenoord.
There was no impossible deal, it could easily have happened."

Perhaps Feyenoord didn’t believe in the possibility, and never tried to
negotiate a deal. Cardiff manager Dave Jones did, and got what he hoped for.
Bellamy wasn’t surprised that Manchester City were prepared to cover most of
his wages.

"They knew the situation and my feelings. They decided that I couldn’t go
to a rival club, so at the same time they were jeopardising my career as
well and stopping me from living my dream. They knew they had to take
responsibility for that. I could have gone anywhere and they would have paid
as well, just so long as it wasn’t to a rival team. Manchester City is the
richest club in the world. They work to a budget that no one else works to,
so they can write their own rules. Right now, the club has got itself in a
situation where a lot of players have to go on loan."

Some people argued that he might have been prepared to take a wage cut, in
order to play for Feyenoord. Bellamy says he won’t do that while he’s still
under contract at Manchester City.

"No chance, that is impossible. Because I have my own academy, where I
have to take care of 13 children day in day out. My wages are more important
to them, than they are for me."

After last year with Cardiff, he expects to go back to Manchester City, where
he enters his final year of his contract. The club has made it clear to him
that there won’t be another loan.

"And to be honest I do not want to go on loan again either, because where
would I go after that? After another loan period my options would be
probably reduced. A permanent move would be the best, but it would have to
be somewhere wealthy, so I can guarantee future earnings for my charity. But
that would be difficult with my current wages."

Another possibility is that Manchester City will buy off his contract. "If
they pay me my final year of my wages, then I’m sure I can go wherever I
want. In that case, my first option would be Cardiff, to give it another go.
But is has to be feasible, the financial health of the club is the most
important thing. I know the owners want to take the club forward, but they
have to declare what is possible. But in the first place, it obviously all
depends on Manchester City.

"At present, I expect to go back there, and stay the whole year. And if
Mancini is still there, I’ll do probably very little, obviously I won’t be
involved with him and the first team."

It could be a boring year in the reserves. But with Bellamy, no single season
in his career has been dull so far and neither has he stayed somewhere in
the reserves for a whole campaign.

Bellamy’s life has been characterised by several different chapters, of
various kinds.

Next season, there will undoubtedly be a new one.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/8624171/From-fallouts-to-friendships-the-many-faces-of-controversial-striker-Craig-Bellamy.html

And here is the real Craig Bellamy in all his selfish and nausiating glory.

Ohhh go on city pay a whole year of his wages, it only around 90k/week so craigy boy can live happily ever after in bora bora... He talks sense its not that he is asking much like my 40k/year salary!

The sheikh is too nice! Hence there demands from the likes of tevez...

I don't give a flying about all the arguing. It would nice if Bobby, Bellers, Cook & Marwood could all sit down like grown ups & try & sort the issues out.

Bellamy is a good player who could still contribute to our future success. Putting him in the reserves at 80000 a week is just fucking ridiculous !

The blame for this situation has to lie with Garry Cook. He sanctioned the purchases and subsequent contracts of all these players - Bellers, SWP and Ade played well under Hughes, Mancini never really gave them a chance.

If city could sort out all the issues with the 'unwanted' players, and the players could sort themselves out too, we'd have Bellars, Ade and Ned back in the squad and we'd be sorted for next season.

Why oh why can't this happen!

Ade certainly has to bear some of the blame. Not moving for passes 3 feet in front of him. Drifting offside.No tracking back. Asking his agent for a move to Juve (again) during the first January transfer season and not doing enough to impress Madrid in his spell there.
SWP was never the player he was before he went to Chelsea and his dads pushing him to ask for parity with the top players when he wasnt actually doing anything might have gone against him as well.
Bellers is a diferent story 100% player and 100% disruptive ellement. Wish we still had him at times but only Hughes managed him reasonably well. Even then while he was playing for Blackburn he was tapping up the Liverpool players for a move to them. The rest of his problems are well documented. On the current issue we allowed him to live his dream last season to help his home town club to promotion, it didnt happen and 4 weeks ago he's angling that we should cancel his contract so he can get a big signing on fee to negate his drop in wages. So now we get the poor me interview and my poor charity. Its his charity not the clubs or the clubs problem, very worthy and all that but a huge slice of emotional blackmail. Finally last season Cardiff just failed to get promotion whice we went on to win the FA cup and joint second in the Prem (ricky is saying we were joint second taking away the goal difference as well!!!!). So just whos judgement should we trust and who seems to be better for City?

Mancini has been proved right in the end, we would all have liked a fully focused bellamy and ade but they hav'nt got the class of other players or are not profesional enough to realise its a team game, they have missed out on creating history because they think their opinion is fact.

From thanking and praising our esteemed owners and club last year when we agreed to loan him to Cardiff, it seems now we are akin to slave drivers according to the mecurial Mr Bellamy.

I really don't get where a lot of people seem to think he was some sort of world beater for us? He did play well in certain games, but was also pretty anonymous in others too. We finished 3rd and won a FA Cup without him, so i don't think we missed him, quite the opposite in fact.

The fact that he now wants us to let him go for free, so he can get a nice juicy signing on fee with inflated wages, he can go and fuck himself. If he really wanted to leave, he could on a reduced wage, or ask City to cancel his contract with immeadiate effect, but that would mean he wouldn't be picking up a small fortune every week, so i won't hold my breath. He has shown our club no loyalty in slagging us off in the press, so why should we bend over for him?

As far as I'm concerned, Ade and Bellers would have made a greater contribution to last seasons' effort than Dzeko and Balotelli.

Mancini has bent over backwards to accomodate Tevez and Balotelli but Bellers and Ade were off his radar from Day One.

Boris, we didn't get Dzeko until January and Balotelli was injured most of the season.

I highly doubt Bellamy would of lasted a full season, as he was out for a hell of a lot of Cardiff's games and frankly Ade is a pile of dogshit, would put a bit of effort in the bigger games, but anonymous in the others.

We have moved on from these type of players and hopefully as a club, learnt never to sign their ilk again.

City have made these individuals very rich people, so forgive me if i get pissed off when they turn around and slag the club i love off because we won't adhere to their agenda.

Fuck off and good riddence to the both of them.

I'd agree with that boris, most managers have favourites, and players they cant work with.

Bellers and Ade did'nt do themselves any favours in training, something Mancini obviously feels is essential to be in the right condition. I remember Mancini coming out during last season and criticising De Jong for being injured so long, but did De Jong come out and have a pop? i dont remember him doing that. The way some players use the press to gain sympathy does my head in, if they consider themselves proffesional they should act that way.

I'm not giving Mancini a full on slagging off here but Balotelli was bought to replace Ade, not to compete with him and as I read it, Dzeko was bought because Balo turned out to be a huge liability.

As for Bellers, he is an awkard sod but he made a huge contribution in the previous season and was an inspirational character to his team mates, yet RM decided to shunt him off while at the same time retaining the services of Jo. Even if Bellamy had only made a few appearances he'd have been more of an asset than Jo.

My 5 year old daughter would be more of an asset than Jo.

I think Mancini's autocratic style of management, wouldn't sit too well with the likes of Bellamy and Ade, as they are individuals who like to hear there own voice and express their opinions about how things should be, therefore it would never have worked with them under Mancini.

Lets hope they go quickly and we can all move on.

To me it's quite straight forward.

Bellers, Ade and Tevez have no future at City. We get rid, get a heap of flak off the media but we perform on the pitch to shut up our critics. In 3 years time Ade and Tevez will be past it and Bellers will have retired anyway yet the nucleus of the squad we have now will be in their prime. I just hope Typical City has been buried forever.

I also expect that Jo will have been made team captain and director of football by then.

I agree Boris and typical City was buried forever last season.

By the way, whats this fixation with Asian Babe's?