Daily Times

Former Manchester City and Liverpool star Craig Bellamy is finally changing perceptions over his volatile personality after leading Wales to Nations League promotion in his first managerial role.

Bellamy had a well-earned reputation as a trouble-maker during a colourful playing career that featured almost as many controversial moments as goals for the forward. The notorious bad-boy was alleged by then Liverpool team-mate John Arne Riise to have attacked him with a golf club in his hotel room during a drunken row at a training camp in Portugal in 2007.

Bellamy celebrated a goal against Barcelona at the Camp Nou just days later by swinging an imaginary golf club. He has also battled depression and admitted to having a drinking problem that started when he was just 12.

Hit with an 18-month driving ban for being over the legal alcohol limit in 2019 and forced to apologise for any offence caused during his time as a Cardiff academy coach, Bellamy did not appear to have calmed down after hanging up his boots.

An internal investigation into claims of bullying found “a number of significant concerns” about Bellamy’s actions, forcing him to admit he needed to improve his coaching methods, although he was not subject to disciplinary proceedings.

Against that combustible backdrop, it was a significant gamble when the Welsh Football Association hired Bellamy to replace the sacked Robert Page in July. The 45-year-old had worked as Vincent Kompany’s assistant coach at Anderlecht and Burnley after retiring in 2014, but the Wales job represented his first taste of being a boss. A fiercely patriotic Welshman who won 78 caps and skippered the national team for three years, some feared Bellamy’s passion for his country could provide a trigger for the more untamed side of his personality.