Excitement builds as Craig Bellamy’s big shot at Welsh redemption begins

Leon Barton

If asked to name the greatest year in the history of Welsh international football, most fans would have little hesitation in naming 2016. And with good reason. That, despite the fact that in terms of pure stats, 2016 isn’t actually particularly impressive: Played 13, won 5, drew 4, lost 4.

And among those games Wales didn’t win were home games against Northern Ireland and Georgia. It’s just that four of those five victories were at Euro 2016 (the other being a World Cup qualifier against Moldova).

Statistically at least, 2002 is way more impressive: Played 7, won 4, drew 3, lost 0.

And those weren’t seven games against minnows either. Argentina, the Czech Republic, Germany (who went on to reach the World Cup final a few weeks later), Croatia, Finland, Italy and Azerbaijan were the opponents who failed to beat Wales that year.

‘Bellissimo’

Craig Bellamy only started two of those seven but scored in them both – the opener against Argentina in the February and the famous winner versus Italy in the October. They called the video ‘Bellissimo!’ It’s the one VHS I still own.

The only other Wales game Bellamy took part in that year was Finland away, the then-Newcastle United player coming on as a substitute to help secure a 2-0 win. He’d travelled to Helsinki separately to the rest of the squad, a club versus country tug of war meaning his participation in the game was in doubt until matchday.

If the Helsinki episode epitomised Bellamy’s undoubted commitment to the cause, the appearance stats demonstrate the problem. Even when Bellamy was at his peak, scoring against some of the best defenders in the world, he was still only able to take part in less than half of Wales’ games that calendar year.

The knee issues that plagued him for most of his playing days prevented him from becoming ‘one of football’s top superstars’ according to his former manager Gianfranco Zola.

Considering those injury issues it’s remarkable that he won 78 caps. Only Neville Southall (92) and Gary Speed (85) had played more times for the Welsh men’s team by the time of Bellamy’s retirement.

But back to 2002.

By the end of that year Wales had nine points from three games at the start of qualifying.  Only two more away games and three winnable home games to come. Manager Mark Hughes is the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year. Everything in the Welsh garden is rosy.

And then it all fell to pieces.

After the first half of the Euro 2004 campaign brought a maximum twelve points from four games, the second half brought only one (a 1-1 draw at home to Finland following a very stodgy performance).

Nethertheless, Wales hung on to second spot in the group which meant there was a play off tie to come against Russia. Tough, but a strong Welsh team would be competing: Ryan Giggs, Gary Speed, John Hartson et al.

Injuries

Sadly though, the midfield was decimated by injuries, Mark Pembridge and Simon Davies both missing, two consistently superb performers in that campaign. But perhaps most worryingly, Craig Bellamy was also absent.

If the Russian FA’s drugs policy was questionable, Wales’ failure to score in 180 minutes of football was not something that should have been glossed over. Hughes’ tactical intransigence and unwillingness to take the game to the opposition had been brutally exposed by the end of that campaign.

It would be the closest Criag Bellamy ever got to playing in a major tournament with Wales.

Hughes walked a few months later, taking up a job at Blackburn Rovers. A few months after that he was able to take advantage of Bellamy’s personality clash with Toon boss Graeme Souness and bring his former Wales player to Lancashire. He would later take him to Manchester City too.

If Hughes was a confirmed fan, successor John Toshack was rather more sceptical of his fellow Cardiffian’s talents. One of the most memorable quips in the book Toshack’s Way, was his assessment that with Bellamy ‘the positives just about outweighed the negatives. By about 51 per cent to 49’, adding, for good measure, ‘maybe it’s no coincidence that the moment he left, Wales qualified for a major tournament’.

Meanwhile, Toshack’s takedown of Bellamy’s club career is absolutely brutal:

‘He had nine different clubs over an 18-year career. So, a lot of managers signed him but a lot of managers got rid of him as well, and, if you look at the managers that Bellamy has played under – Benitez at Liverpool, Bobby Robson and Graeme Souness at Newcastle, Roberto Mancini at Manchester City – all were trophy winners, but none of them won anything with Bellamy in the team. Apart from a substitute appearance from the bench in a League Cup win under Kenny Dalglish, the only major honours he’s picked up are a shared Community Shield and a Scottish Cup win with Celtic; mind you, I don’t know anyone who’s played for Celtic and not won anything. Considering his ability, that says it all for me.’

Saucer of milk for Tosh.

Gary Speed

Bellamy’s international career came close to ending when Toshack was basically forced to relinquish his position as manager in 2010. But the appointment of good friend and former Newcastle United teammate Gary Speed saw him back down on any thoughts of retirement from international duty.

The captain’s armband was handed over to Aaron Ramsey and a more relaxed Bellamy appeared to emerge.

A mature defensive performance in Swansea against Switzerland saw Bellamy and rookie left back Neil Taylor combine to keep dangerman Xherdan Shaqiri quiet, Ramsey and Bale goals leading to a first Welsh win over the Swiss since the 1960s.

Then, in what tragically turned out to be Gary Speed’s final game in charge, a Man Of The Match performance and memorable Bellamy goal saw Norway vanquished 4-1 in the October of 2011.

Of course, given their close relationship, Speed’s death hit Bellamy harder than most.

Understandably, the largely youthful Welsh side then struggled for a couple of years under successor Chris Coleman.

But Bellamy’s final year as an international footballer – 2013 – brought some wonderfully memorable moments. In the March, he more than played his part as Coleman’s side battled back from behind in the Hampden snow to beat Scotland 2-1.

The October game in Belgium was Bellamy’s final cap and he marked the occasion in fine style, deftly setting up Aaron Ramsey’s late equaliser to spoil the Belgian’s pre-World Cup party.

The very next time Wales stepped out on the pitch for a competitive game marked the start of Wales’ most successful campaign ever.

‘I see a bright future for us’ Bellamy said at the time. ‘Although I may not be around myself when we do eventually qualify’. He was right, and in the eleven years he’s been away, Wales have qualified not just once but three times, including of course, the glorious run to the semi-final of Euro 2016.

Sympathy

It’s hard not to feel a smidgen of sympathy for a guy whose fifteen year international career took him from the shambles of the Bobby Gould years to the start of our nation’s most glorious footballing era under Chris Coleman, taking in Hughes, Toshack and Giggs along the way. But, as with those three, Bellamy it seems, was destined to be another Welsh great without a major tournament on his CV.

The new Wales manager’s knowledge and love of the game has been commented on for years. Ryan Giggs made mention of it in his 2005 autobiography. Connor Roberts spoke about it this week.

Also this week, 2016 captain Ashley Williams described Bellamy as ‘probably the most proud Welshman that I’ve ever met’.

You get the feeling that it would mean everything to Bellamy to lead his nation into a major tournament. And now, the opportunity is there. The next World Cup will feature 48 nations, meaning there are more places up for grabs than ever before.

The next Euros will be hosted by the UK and Ireland, with an extra place available to the best performing host nation that doesn’t qualify via the traditional route.

As Connor Roberts says, ‘he’s got the chance to lead us there now’.

He has. Pob lwc Craig.