Craig Bellamy has been on a bit of a journey. We might interpret that in a number of ways, primarily his migration from footballing arsonist, or a similar word, to his calmer front as a promising new manager. But I’ve been drawn to something more literal, because he’s been clocking up the miles lately.
That has meant getting in his car and touring Wales across the four months since he took over the national team. Swerving the cities, he has mostly headed to smaller towns and villages on distant points of the rural compass, which were roads also travelled by several of his predecessors.
The destinations are neither easy to spell nor reach – Machynlleth, Llanrwst and Bryngwran are among the spots already visited and Pwllheli is coming up next month. Some nights a few dozen fans have met Bellamy on these hearts-and-minds missions and occasionally it will be closer to 200, but they are long, winding drives from Cardiff all the same.
And they have been long, winding conversations, too. He tends to arrive at around 4pm and won’t get going again until, say, 9pm, having opened his heart on why Wales means so much to him. Why he hopes the team means as much to folk in his audience. Why the two perspectives must align for smaller populations to exceed the sum of their parts.
Bellamy can get quite emotional when he gets into that stride, as you might well imagine, and it’s often gone 2am by the time the talking and driving is done and he’s home. But the road trips have gone down well.
I learned a little more about all of this earlier the week, when I called a couple of people in Bellamy’s orbit to ask how he has settled into this new role, beyond the obvious of leading an unspectacular squad to the top-flight of the Nations League on Tuesday.
Craig Bellamy has taken an off-the-beaten-path approach to managing Wales’ football team
In his first campaign as Wales boss, Bellamy has overseen a promising Nations League spell
The former Premier League star has spoken of his regrets during his playing career but he has always been an honest and invested person
Turns out, one of his journeys delivered a mildly amusing exchange. Bellamy had headed out west to Llechryd, a village of fewer than 900 people, and that was on October 24, so it fell in the days after the FA announced Thomas Tuchel’s appointment and then confirmed he wouldn’t clock on for England until January 1.
While the FA were briefing a defence of their snub to homegrown options and the wisdom of choosing an invisible man – no plans to attend to games outside his contract, no input to Lee Carsley, no value in showing face – Bellamy was perched at the front of a school hall. When one of the kids asked if he had any regrets, a little time passed before his answer came and it drew a decent laugh: ‘You do know who I am, right?’
Of course, almost everyone has an idea about Bellamy. Superb footballer, superb footballing brain, but shame about the rest of the wiring – that was always the perception, and it seemed fair for a time. Probably still is, up to a point.
I used to speak regularly to one of his former managers and he had a distinct way of scowling ‘little s***’ any time Bellamy was mentioned. The other stories are too well known to bother with a full recap here, but I always liked him.
I liked his honesty. How much he cared. How human he was in his array of triggers, reactions and shortcomings. I liked that he could be a little s*** and I disliked how few people tried to understand the complexities behind it. I liked that he could laugh in an interview we once did about him sharing a psychologist with Ronnie O’Sullivan and being the one who needed more appointments.
Alongside all of that, I like that he is a homegrown manager in the international game, the way it ought to be. I like that he gets on the B roads to give talks to small groups and isn’t just going through the motions when he arrives.
At which point we might reintroduce Tuchel to the discussion. There is no sensible reason for which we might compare Bellamy’s standing as a manager to the German winner of football’s leading prizes, but it is safe to assume one man feels more connection to his job than the other. And it’s a connection that matters. It’s a connection that can elevate a team and often does.
Bellamy speaks to what international sport should be about, and the value of an authentic link to your constituency. The value of having one of your own in charge, snarly warts and all.
A homegrown coach like Bellamy is able to speak to his constituency in a way that foreign managers will struggle to
Thomas Tuchel has been an invisible man since the FA’s appointment last month – which makes his challenge to connect even more difficult
I heard a story about him the other day that tapped into the theme – he has apparently shared his distaste around the swapping of shirts to his younger players, with the message that they should never bank on getting another. Sounds intense, rather like the man himself.
Naturally, any overseas manager could say the same things, with the same intent, but you doubt it would resonate so much as it does when it comes from someone who has worn the shirt. Has treasured it. Has known precisely what it means to the people watching because he is one of them.
These are details that, concurrently, are both tangential and important. Details that sound nice and can disappear on the breeze of a few bad results.
But it has been heartening to see Bellamy get off to a flyer, especially after the hard knocks of recent years that have included bankruptcy and the shuttering of his charity in Sierra Leone. He put millions of his own money into it.
Certainly, some luck has been ridden in accumulating an unbeaten run of six games, but his squad is amassed predominantly from the Championship and drew with Gibraltar a few months ago under Rob Page. Now they have a swagger, a clear style of play, and a manager whose character can be extremely persuasive in the right dosage.
What happens next in his attempts to lead Wales to the World Cup will be fascinating. But Bellamy wasn’t wrong with what he said to the media a few nights ago, when he peeled back a layer or two: ‘It was important to show people I am not a lunatic – I’m quite sane. I probably felt more pushed into management to show I am not like that. You were concerned, you were thinking: “I wonder what he’s going to be like?” I feel like some are waiting for it happen.’
We know the ‘it’ he is referring to. An implosion. A rage. It might still occur and isn’t just us in the media who are intrigued.
Back when the Football Association of Wales were finalising their call to appoint him, I understand they felt compelled to look him over one last time, just to be sure his heart wasn’t doing all the heavy lifting and the mind was right.
For a variety of reasons, I think the decision they arrived at was quite sane.
Pep Guardiola has signed a two-year contract extension at the Etihad but the thought of plying his trade some divisions down could take the shine off his final seasons
Guardiola’s big gamble
It’s great news for English football that Pep Guardiola has signed a new deal at Manchester City. It would also be great news for the non-league game if he honours his promise on Friday to stay if City are bombed back to the stone age when these financial charges are finally ruled upon.
Much as I’d be compelled to see how gets on in the Vanarama, I’m inclined to view that claim as a piece of creative accounting.
Twickenham is more chaotic off the pitch
I used to go to Twickenham once in a while when I lived nearby. The rugby was good, the experience of travelling to and from stadium was anything but. How utterly shambolic that several years on they are getting both wrong.
We can probably bet on England giving Eddie Jones a rough return to the ground with Japan on Sunday, but to go by fan reports of post-match carnage last weekend, his experience either way will likely be more pleasant, and over more quickly, than those who have paid a fortune to see it.
