FORMER Wales captain and Cardiff City favourite Craig Bellamy talks to University of South Wales Sports Journalism course leader Julie Kissick.
Bellamy, now a coach with Cardiff City Academy, is 40 next year and has been a part of the game since he was a teenager.
He won 78 caps for his country before retiring from international football almost five years ago. He brought his club career to a close at the end of the 2013-14 season.
King Kenny
The player with a hard-man reputation on, and often off the pitch, played for seven Premier League clubs including Newcastle United, Manchester City and Liverpool, a club he retains a genuine affection for.
That relationship with the Merseyside outfit is in part down to the legendary Sir Kenny Dalglish. He was and still is, one of the most influential people in Bellamy’s life.
Bellamy’s friendship with the man they call ‘King Kenny’ has survived long past his playing days. Here he explains why he and Sir Bobby Robson had such an impact.
Still as driven as he was as a player, Bellamy has spent several years working with and nurturing the next generation of young footballers.
He told ExpoSport about what has changed since his playing days and why he believes that young players, regardless of their talent, need a decent education.
His philosophy focuses on equipping his charges with being ‘the best they can be’.
He says the landscape of football has changed, from the wages to the expectations on the junior players.
Bellamy believes the preparation they get will help them to make better choices, as he told Sports Journalism course leader Julie Kissick.
We’ll have the final part of the Bellamy interview tomorrow, where he discusses his beloved Cardiff City and he tells us whether managing his home-town club is his life’s ambition.
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