Craig Bellamy has today spoken to the press for the first time after being appointed as the new Wales manager.
After a thorough interviewing process, Bellamy was chosen as the new man to lead Wales. Having been a youth coach at Cardiff City and Anderlecht, before being Vincent Kompany’s assistant manager at Burnley, this will be Bellamy’s first senior managerial role.
Speaking today, the former international revealed that he didn’t realise just how much of an emotional connection he had with his homeland.
“I didn’t realise how important it was to me. Maybe it was because I’d been living in England and Belgium. I hadn’t forgotten, I’ve always followed Wales, but I hadn’t realised the emotional attachment I had to it.
“I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to do, I’m not here for financial reasons, but for me it was the emotional attachment to it. The more I got involved it became clear to me and it was something I wanted to do. It hasn’t left me, I thought it had, but it’s come back even stronger.”
Fan reaction to Bellamy’s appointment has been mostly positive, but others have questioned his experience. The former Liverpool man knows and understand fans may have an image of him, but he’s relishing the chance to try and prove his doubters wrong.
“I completely understand the perception some may have of me, and that was sort of my process in becoming the number one somewhere. I’m inexperienced, but temperament as well is a word that people like to use.
“Until I’m able to do it, and hopefully after a few months, a year or two or three, I think people will have a good understanding. They’ll look at me and say my temperament is fine, he’s experienced, and hopefully I’ll be able to dismiss that.
“I put myself under more scrutiny than anyone else. I’m so determined to be the best human being I can, and it’s a driving force for me. I’m still not the finished article, and I never will be.
“I’m not perfect, and I’m still yet to come across anyone who is, but anything I’ve ever done I’ve owned. I never shy away from it. Any mistake I’ve made, I’ve owned, and I’ll admit it, I’ll be honest, and I’ll be open. I want to enjoy it as much as I can, and I want to be the best person I can be.”
While Bellamy may have been out of the Wales loop between his retirement and his appointment as manager, he has kept a keen eye on the progress of the team.
The former winger knows how good the pathway is at Cymru, and he now wants to enhance it and improve it.
“I’m very excited to be leading this journey. To be a fan during this period has been great. Being able to qualify to go and play in the European Championships and the World Cup, those moments have been big.
“But also, I feel like this path has been set for a number of years now, and it’s what we expect now. If you look at the strength of the setup now, it’s geared for success, it’s geared for qualification, and it’s down to us and me to enhance that and improve it.”
The question now is, what are the expectations for this Wales team under Bellamy?
After failing to qualify for Euro 2024, the Red Wall will be itching to get to the next major tournament, which will be the 2026 World Cup in North America.
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While not revealing exactly what his targets were, Bellamy says everything begins with hard work, and if everyone is pulling in the right direction, anything is possible.
“I want to dominate in every aspect. For me personally, I want to have control of everything during a game, that’s where I feel comfortable. I believe if we’re able to do that, we can win football matches, win games, and qualification for tournaments come with that.
“But in order to do that, a lot of detail and hard work needs to go into it, and that starts now. I’ve already watched Turkey eight times already, and I’m not saying that’s going to be enough, but I’m onto the detail.
“If we all work together, and progress, then that gives you an opportunity to be successful. With the players we have too, that gives you a chance to qualify, and not just qualify, but maybe surprise one or two like in 2016 and get to the later stages hopefully.”
With hard work being a core principle of Bellamy’s football, what can fans expect tactically from the new manager?
Well, fans should expect a team that like to press, but also a team with no defined formation, as Bellamy looks to move away from conventional footballing norms.
“It’s about hard work and having discipline for your craft, and it comes from being willing to learn and being open-minded to everything. It’s about respect too.
“You have to respect the environment, respect the people that work hard for you, and everyone has to have that level of respect for each other for us all to go in the same direction. You need respect for the shirt too; can you leave that shirt in a better place than when you found it.
“Playing wise, I do like front foot football. I like pressing, I like us working hard without the ball. The team comes first, so we have to be very difficult to break through. We have high intensity and being able to build from the back.
“I want these players setting traps too. We want to let the opposition know that they might think they can play, but once you play that one pass, we’re going, we’re committing, and everyone is committing to it. Everything we do is looking to score.
“Formation wise, I think we need to move away from formations. We need to start looking at football a little differently. I don’t play formations, I play shapes. The idea is to create an extra player in the part of the field where you don’t have one, so it’s two on one, and we want to create those problems all over the pitch.”
Bellamy’s first game in charge will be at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday 6th September, as Wales take on Türkiye in the UEFA Nations League.
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