Carl Curtis : Craig Bellamy speaks out on all things Cardiff City
‘ CRAIG BELLAMY SPEAKS OUT ON ALL THINGS CARDIFF CITY ‘
Craig Bellamy met Cardiff City fans on Friday night for a Q&A session which took place at Llanrumney British Legion in aid of the UHW Special Baby Care Unit, which all proceeds from the evening went to.
I had planned to go to the event but due to children not being allowed I weren’t able to attend but thanks to City fan Nathan Burgess and a couple of other fans who attended, we have been given a full run down on how the evening panned out and what Bellamy had to say.
The Q+A started at 8pm and lasted for two hours.
Craig Bellamy, as most will already know, is helping coach youngsters in the City academy, Craig does this in his own time and for no payment, he is not employed by the club, Bellamy is enthusiastic about passing on his experience to the next generation of possible stars and takes huge encouragement from helping develop the younger players.
Craig told the room about his thoughts on the youth set up at Cardiff and said it was going downhill, he described these up as amateurish at City. He hopes that the little he can offer will help to improve things at Cardiff City.
Bellamy went further and stated that Swansea are taking over and it is very worrying for Cardiff, the Swans have a development set up in Heath and there is a new one starting up in Roath soon.
He said we need to pick up our game at academy level to produce players like Aaron Ramsey, clubs like Cardiff need to do this but it is not looking good at the moment.
When talking about youth players he said how highly he rates Declan John and that he hopes Declan is given the chance at Cardiff.
Bellamy was asked about the managers he played under at Cardiff, he said that under Dave Jones some of the players were just not interested and many players spent their time just eating or gambling and that is the reason why he felt they never went up under Jones. There was no camaraderie under Dave Jones and the coaching by Jones was not good enough so much so that Bellamy did his own training regime.
Under Malky Mackay it was very different, he enthused about Malky and regards him very highly. He backed Malky Mackay by saying ‘we all do daft texts, if people went through most phones we would all in be in jail’ whilst laughing but was adamant that Malky is definitely not a racist.
Bellamy said he had a lot of time and respect for Malky because he got the players to give their all, the work rate and desire and he had every player pushing themselves to succeed. Craig said the minute Malky left, it all went down hill.
He did though agree that the Cornelius signing was shocking, again laughing while saying so.
Vincent Tan as you know went after not just Malky but Iain Moody too, the situation has ruined Moody’s career and apparently Moody is back living with his parents.
When it came to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Craig was less than impressed, he said that the training methods were shocking and in his opinion Ole was out of his depth and in over his head and the club went further downhill very fast as a result.
Speaking about some of the players at Cardiff during his time there he said that Mark Hudson, Kevin McNaughton and Steve McPhail were true fighters and gave their all to the club and the cause and it is these type of players that the club desperately needs.
He also added that he would love to play in McNaughton’s testimonial.
Peter Whittingham in Bellamy’s opinion is someone who has always had so much potential but has not reached the level that maybe he should have, he said that Whitts is without doubt a great player but when things go wrong his head drops and as a result goes missing when the going gets tough.
Talking frankly about the current situation at the club he said it is simply not good enough and there is a lack of desire around the club to succeed.
Bellamy was asked if he would like to manage the club and he said he would love to manage Cardiff City in the future but club is just not working right at the moment, also adding that he would not take the job whilst Vincent Tan is control of the club.
Craig’s car parked outside the club, a Bentley with the number 10 on on the plate, he explained that it comes from his time at Newcastle. speaking about his time at Newcastle he stated that it is a massive club but their fans expect a top 4 finish and that the fans of newcastle ambitions are too high.
He told the room that growing up he supported Liverpool but Cardiff is his hometown club and of course his City.
When asked about the biggest derby game he had played in, he was in no doubt it was Celtic Vs Rangers, the atmosphere, feeling around the City made it the most intense he had played in.
The most important part of his career was playing for Wales and was the best moments of his footballing career.
Craig Bellamy finished speaking to a great applause from the fans and the ones i have spoken with have said what a brilliant night it was and how interesting Bellamy is to listen to.