“I WORKED FOR CARDIFF FOR 3YRS WITHOUT PAY & PAID FOR”

CRAIG BELLAMY:



“I worked at Cardiff City for nothing and paid for staff's funerals but I had to leave.”

The former Bluebirds under-18s coach was subjected to allegations of bullying before he left to join his former Manchester City team-mate Vincent Kompany at Anderlecht last summer


Sunday 15th March 2020

He left Cardiff City's academy setup to take up a similar role at the Belgian giants following a phone call from his former Manchester City team-mate Vincent Kompany last summer.

Bellamy, a club legend during his playing days, left Cardiff under something of a cloud last summer.

Cardiff vowed to implement robust changes after an investigation into the accusations highlighted 'a number of significant concerns' to its coaching procedures and an 'unacceptable coaching environment' at the club.

Following the findings of the report, Bellamy issued an apology for any offence he caused during his time as Cardiff City academy coach.

While he is now clearly enjoying life in Belgium, he still speaks fondly of his time as under-18s boss at Cardiff City. He says he acknowledges his mistakes, and explained his love and passion for the club.

“I loved Cardiff,” he told The Athletic . “I took two wage cuts to go to the club, I paid for funerals of people who worked at the club — a cleaning lady; I donated money to the Fred Keenor statue.”

“I gave back to the club, I worked there for three years without pay, and even when I did get paid, I didn’t claim an expense. I was passionate about it.”

“But I knew I had to come away.”

The Athletic also report that Bellamy sometimes worked voluntarily and donated £5,000 for the statue of their FA Cup-winning captain Fred Keenor to be erected.


A huge gripe of Bluebirds fans in recent years is the dearth of players to come out of the academy there.

Bellamy adds: “They just need a chance.”

The former Wales international was tipped as a possible contender to succeed Neil Warnock at the helm last November, but that post was ultimately filled by Neil Harris.

He appears to be enjoying life at Anderlecht, in charge of the club's under-21s.

Bellamy's remit is to ready young players, of which there is no shortage of quality, for the first team before, eventually, selling them on for a big profit to other European clubs.

The likes of Romelu Lukaku, Youri Tielemans and Leander Dendoncker are fairly recent graduates who have gone on to net Anderlecht a fairly hefty profit.

He has high hopes for a number of young players there and understands it's his job to nurture them through into the senior game.

Whether we see Bellamy back doing that, or even in a first-team capacity, in the Welsh capital anytime soon is anyone's guess, but it's fair to say, since Kompany phoned him last summer, he has not thought twice about returning.

He added: “I didn’t have to weigh anything up. I just said, ‘Yeah, definitely.’ I’ve hesitated before when offered things but I just said, ‘I will, yeah. I would like to go.’

“We had a conversation about where I’d be most beneficial to him and that was with the under-21s.

“I spoke to Cardiff, because I was still doing work there. They wanted me to stay but understood. It was fine.

“I spoke to Jean Kindermans, the head of the academy, that night, and within a day of coming back from holiday I was here. And I’ve not really gone back.”

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I also know Craig Bellamy has never taken Wales match money appearances and donated every wage to Charity

I also know Craig Bellamy has never taken Wales match money appearances and donated every wage to Charity

Always thought he was proper, Annis.

I would love to see talented, Cardiff loving, ex players being part of the club's fabric. They are our DNA.

Where is Phil Stant, by the way? Could teach people like Murphy to grow a pair....

I also know Craig Bellamy has never taken Wales match money appearances and donated every wage to Charity

Always thought he was proper, Annis.

I would love to see talented, Cardiff loving, ex players being part of the club's fabric. They are our DNA.

Where is Phil Stant, by the way? Could teach people like Murphy to grow a pair....

Over the last 6yrs I have got to know Bells really well.

Straight talking, honest person and more caring than people realise

I reckon people like him and rooney are the type that you could sit down with privately and have a pint and chat footie,those 2 would join in a street game just for fun,real characters.

I reckon people like him and rooney are the type that you could sit down with privately and have a pint and chat footie,those 2 would join in a street game just for fun,real characters.

That’s exactly what Bellers is like

I also know Craig Bellamy has never taken Wales match money appearances and donated every wage to Charity

Always thought he was proper, Annis.

I would love to see talented, Cardiff loving, ex players being part of the club's fabric. They are our DNA.

Where is Phil Stant, by the way? Could teach people like Murphy to grow a pair....

Over the last 6yrs I have got to know Bells really well.

Straight talking, honest person and more caring than people realise

Annis, people see what they want to see; or In many cases what others have told them!

You and I both know Craig 'gives a shit' and is why he is so passionate. If some people can't stand being told the truth, it maybe says a lot more about them than it does him...

Craig was my choice as part of a City management team and that hasn't changed. At least then we'd know whether he has what it takes and for me, I'm sure he has. He has been a winner all his footballing life and it seems his passion for the game (an the youth in particular) lives on!

I reckon people like him and rooney are the type that you could sit down with privately and have a pint and chat footie,those 2 would join in a street game just for fun,real characters.

That’s exactly what Bellers is like

Spot On - I Did have that pint with Bellers and you could listen to the Guy talk about the game and see another sight to what people think of him - Top Guy ( But not as good as Chops - if he is reading this )

I also know Craig Bellamy has never taken Wales match money appearances and donated every wage to Charity

Always thought he was proper, Annis.

I would love to see talented, Cardiff loving, ex players being part of the club's fabric. They are our DNA.

Where is Phil Stant, by the way? Could teach people like Murphy to grow a pair....

Over the last 6yrs I have got to know Bells really well.

Straight talking, honest person and more caring than people realise

Annis, people see what they want to see; or In many cases what others have told them!

You and I both know Craig 'gives a shit' and is why he is so passionate. If some people can't stand being told the truth, it maybe says a lot more about them than it does him...

Craig was my choice as part of a City management team and that hasn't changed. At least then we'd know whether he has what it takes and for me, I'm sure he has. He has been a winner all his footballing life and it seems his passion for the game (an the youth in particular) lives on!

Spot on Craig

I reckon people like him and rooney are the type that you could sit down with privately and have a pint and chat footie,those 2 would join in a street game just for fun,real characters.

That’s exactly what Bellers is like

Spot On - I Did have that pint with Bellers and you could listen to the Guy talk about the game and see another sight to what people think of him - Top Guy ( But not as good as Chops - if he is reading this )

Spot on Tony

I remember seeing CB at reserve games on Monday afternoon's. He was always taking notes and I think he was keeping an eye on the academy players who had made the step up to the U23's.

Like everyone he is bound to have made mistakes but I really believe our loss is Anderlecht's gain.

We should be aiming to do the same as the Belgium giants and produce players good enough to sell for a thumping great profit or to make an impact at first team level.

I remember seeing CB at reserve games on Monday afternoon's. He was always taking notes and I think he was keeping an eye on the academy players who had made the step up to the U23's.

Like everyone he is bound to have made mistakes but I really believe our loss is Anderlecht's gain.

We should be aiming to do the same as the Belgium giants and produce players good enough to sell for a thumping great profit or to make an impact at first team level.

Massive loss to Cardiff City Tony, But Cardiff City should of originally stuck by him when the kids allegation came out.

I will just say this, Bells will never come back under the present Regime, but will if offered come back under a future one

Bells loves Cardiff City

I remember seeing CB at reserve games on Monday afternoon's. He was always taking notes and I think he was keeping an eye on the academy players who had made the step up to the U23's.

Like everyone he is bound to have made mistakes but I really believe our loss is Anderlecht's gain.

We should be aiming to do the same as the Belgium giants and produce players good enough to sell for a thumping great profit or to make an impact at first team level.

Massive loss to Cardiff City Tony, But Cardiff City should of originally stuck by him when the kids allegation came out.

I will just say this, Bells will never come back under the present Regime, but will if offered come back under a future one

Bells loves Cardiff City

Didn't ever hear him mention us before he got home sick mind. But done a great job for us. Club legend? Loves us? Not sure about that.

I remember seeing CB at reserve games on Monday afternoon's. He was always taking notes and I think he was keeping an eye on the academy players who had made the step up to the U23's.

Like everyone he is bound to have made mistakes but I really believe our loss is Anderlecht's gain.

We should be aiming to do the same as the Belgium giants and produce players good enough to sell for a thumping great profit or to make an impact at first team level.

Massive loss to Cardiff City Tony, But Cardiff City should of originally stuck by him when the kids allegation came out.

I will just say this, Bells will never come back under the present Regime, but will if offered come back under a future one

Bells loves Cardiff City

Didn't ever hear him mention us before he got home sick mind. But done a great job for us. Club legend? Loves us? Not sure about that.

Great player,was good for us,but have to agree"legend" not for me sorry.not sure about the love for us bit,but as I don't know for sure,I give him the benefit of the doubt and I'm not too impressed with his need to mention paying for someone's funeral to be honest, I would have thought that was a private matter,and not one to put out for general consumption? ? However I'm certainly not knocking his decision to pay for the funeral,far from it,rather the need to mention it?

Great player,was good for us,but have to agree"legend" not for me sorry.not sure about the love for us bit,but as I don't know for sure,I give him the benefit of the doubt and I'm not too impressed with his need to mention paying for someone's funeral to be honest, I would have thought that was a private matter,and not one to put out for general consumption? ? However I'm certainly not knocking his decision to pay for the funeral,far from it,rather the need to mention it?

From what I know the funeral was a relative of a low paid worker at CCFC.

Under normal circumstances I would understand your point that it is a private matter.

However, you have to remember CB was branded a bully and even xenophobic because of a dislike for Bristol City (well he is in good company there ). I suppose mentioning the funeral was his way of saying, "look I'm not a bad guy really"

On your other point I fully agree he didn't really fill the description of club 'legend'. I think of Carl Dale, Phil Stant, Phil Dwyer or Jason Perry in that category. CB had some immense individual games for us but he was injured for periods.

i watch/listen to a load of football podcasts, with ex footballers, and players from all levels who played with CB all said the same thing, he was great, he's demanding and wants everyone around him to work hard. he can come across as aggressive but thats his way of getting the most out of everyone.

i think we all agree some of the things he was accused of bully for were just pathetic, turning the sound off god save the queen and saying he didnt like bristol.... i can see what he was doing, we was trying to give the players an identity, we're this group and all them hate us, and want to beat us, so we need to hate them, an us against the world mentality and some kids just couldnt handle it

I remember seeing CB at reserve games on Monday afternoon's. He was always taking notes and I think he was keeping an eye on the academy players who had made the step up to the U23's.

Like everyone he is bound to have made mistakes but I really believe our loss is Anderlecht's gain.

We should be aiming to do the same as the Belgium giants and produce players good enough to sell for a thumping great profit or to make an impact at first team level.

Massive loss to Cardiff City Tony, But Cardiff City should of originally stuck by him when the kids allegation came out.

I will just say this, Bells will never come back under the present Regime, but will if offered come back under a future one

Bells loves Cardiff City

Didn't ever hear him mention us before he got home sick mind. But done a great job for us. Club legend? Loves us? Not sure about that.

He was getting on with his career and making something of his life.
I know for a fact for years now Bells has done so much for our club without taking one penny, not many players have done that in their lives.

I remember seeing CB at reserve games on Monday afternoon's. He was always taking notes and I think he was keeping an eye on the academy players who had made the step up to the U23's.

Like everyone he is bound to have made mistakes but I really believe our loss is Anderlecht's gain.

We should be aiming to do the same as the Belgium giants and produce players good enough to sell for a thumping great profit or to make an impact at first team level.

Massive loss to Cardiff City Tony, But Cardiff City should of originally stuck by him when the kids allegation came out.

I will just say this, Bells will never come back under the present Regime, but will if offered come back under a future one

Bells loves Cardiff City

Didn't ever hear him mention us before he got home sick mind. But done a great job for us. Club legend? Loves us? Not sure about that.

He was getting on with his career and making something of his life.
I know for a fact for years now Bells has done so much for our club without taking one penny, not many players have done that in their lives.

Fair points annis. He defo gave alot to the club in coaching and playing. But I've always held the view that he should be nowhere near the first team staff, hes too erratic.

I believe Warnock wanted Bellamy out the door for reasons of his own and it was the case that Dalmar and Cooh tended to dench at Warnock's tune,enough said I think

I remember seeing CB at reserve games on Monday afternoon's. He was always taking notes and I think he was keeping an eye on the academy players who had made the step up to the U23's.

Like everyone he is bound to have made mistakes but I really believe our loss is Anderlecht's gain.

We should be aiming to do the same as the Belgium giants and produce players good enough to sell for a thumping great profit or to make an impact at first team level.

Massive loss to Cardiff City Tony, But Cardiff City should of originally stuck by him when the kids allegation came out.

I will just say this, Bells will never come back under the present Regime, but will if offered come back under a future one

Bells loves Cardiff City

Didn't ever hear him mention us before he got home sick mind. But done a great job for us. Club legend? Loves us? Not sure about that.

He was getting on with his career and making something of his life.
I know for a fact for years now Bells has done so much for our club without taking one penny, not many players have done that in their lives.

Fair points annis. He defo gave alot to the club in coaching and playing. But I've always held the view that he should be nowhere near the first team staff, hes too erratic.

Very old school and highly passionate Bells is, I reckon in a couple of years time perfect for Cardiff as manager