Bellamy:"I'm staying at City" [merged]

[Chinners]

Great read, if true of course, never ceases to amaze me why people believe it because it's positive stuff but days before the same paper/writer were slaughtering him us. Like others have said, Bellamy has completely won me over, of course I hope it is all true but "quotes"' doesn't mean they said it nowadays, sadly.

[Vhero]

He was going nowhere anyways 'Arry probably spread the rumour saying he was so when he declared interest he wasn't being a twat.

[john@staustell]

Great read, if true of course, never ceases to amaze me why people believe it because it's positive stuff but days before the same paper/writer were slaughtering him us. Like others have said, Bellamy has completely won me over, of course I hope it is all true but "quotes"' doesn't mean they said it nowadays, sadly.

It's getting that way with Bellers though because didn't he say somehwere he's suing again (the Sun I presume)? More money for his charity!!

[Chinners]

Yeah I agree with that John, althou you don't often get players suing for a positive made up article which hopefully this isn't. Either way his perfomances for the remainder of his City carear are all I care about tbh, not what good or bad things some hack writes

[Nick]

LOVE HIM

[s1ty m]

Bellamy has been amazing for us, I have never see a faster footballer, Henry in his pomp, Anelka in full flow, etc, included.

From the Guardian, further confirmation:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009 ... to-mancini

Craig Bellamy has strongly rejected suggestions of a fall-out with Roberto Mancini and has said he will not leave Manchester City in next month's transfer window.

The striker, a substitute against Stoke on Saturday, was reported to have had a row with Mancini. But he has followed the new City manager in saying there has been no disagreement and has outlined his desire to stay at Eastlands despite interest from clubs including Tottenham.

Bellamy was a strong supporter of Mark Hughes, who was sacked this month with City sixth in the Premier League, but has said the departure of the manager he also worked with at Blackburn Rovers and with Wales will not prompt him to seek a transfer.

"I want to stay and I am going to stay," Bellamy told the Mirror. "I am committed to that. I am committed to Man City. I have bought into the idea of where Man City is going to go and I am a huge part of where it is at this stage.

"I have no problem with Mancini. None at all. It's not his problem he's here. What happened to Mark Hughes has got nothing to do with him.

"He put it very well at his press conference when he said he won all those trophies at Inter and still got sacked. That is the game. It's what the game is.

"There is no resentment towards him from me. Every player at the club is exactly the same. If you want to be part of this club, you have got to start playing.

"I hope Mancini will stay for a long time because I think stability is the key to success. I hope he gets a number of years to do it and, as long as I last, I will give my all for him.

"I will take legal action over the stories this week that said I had a row with Mancini. I understand it is easy to write that kind of thing because people out there think I will actually do this kind of stuff, so it's easy to stick my name in there. But it was absolutely not true."

Bellamy, who is expected to start City's game against Wolverhampton Wanderers tonight, said his reaction to Hughes's dismissal might once have been different.

"Maybe I'm mellowing a bit. Maybe a few years ago, I might have reacted differently to what happened to Mark Hughes, who is someone I completely respect and to whom I owe a lot.

"But as a player, it's not my job to worry too much about how Mark Hughes was treated. I have to concentrate on playing well for Man City and fighting for my place. It's as simple as that.

"For me to get involved in what the chief executive Garry Cook does or what the owners do, it's not my place. That's nothing to do with me."

[Crazy_Cabbie]

I can't believe how wrong i was in my overall view of Bellamy when I first heard that hughes wanted to bring him to our club,

I didn't want him anywhere near our team, it seems I was sucked in by all the press Bullshit that was printed about him.

He is a star,and he has become one of my favorite players for city,
his work rate his attitude, his skill and speed....Fantastic

Cheers Craig, and SORRY Craig

[CityFanFromRome]

Great to hear direct quotes from the player himself.

On the downside though, not sure how happy I would be to take over as manager and be told "by the way, I'm unable to play three games in the same week." This limits the manager's options if other players are injured. As a long term solution it's not really viable for a top level club.

True, and Bellers knows it, in fact he admitted he doesn't expect to be at top level for long.

[aaron bond]

This interview with Bellamy completely shows the media for what they are - lying, manipulating tossers.

I wonder if Stelling, Thompson, Merson and those other idiots on Soccer Saturday, as well as the MOTD tossers, talk about this article on their shows and admit they were wrong and completely made up what they stated as fact on television.

I doubt it!

[mr_nool]

Never thought I would say it, but I really really like Craig Bellamy. Great character both on (if he's in your team) and off the pitch.

[carl_feedthegoat]

CAN SOMEONE NAME ALL THE JOURNOS AND PUNDITS THAT LIED ABOUT WHAT BELLAMY WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SAID?

I WANT TO SEND THAT LIST TO CRAIG TO MAKE SURE HE SUES ALL OF THEM.

THANKS.

[The Man In Blue]

CAN SOMEONE NAME ALL THE JOURNOS AND PUNDITS THAT LIED ABOUT WHAT BELLAMY WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SAID?

I WANT TO SEND THAT LIST TO CRAIG TO MAKE SURE HE SUES ALL OF THEM.

THANKS.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... R=Football

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/6 ... ester+City)

a couple for you to get started with.

[Original Dub]

Not that you would know it from the rousing standing ovation Craig Bellamy received when he came on to replace Robinho against Stoke on Boxing Day, but there is still one Manchester City fan who rates the club's record signing higher than the Welshman.

Bellamy smiles wryly when he mentions it but he has a sneaking suspicion that if his elder son, Ellis, 12, had to choose between him and the Brazilian, he might not pick his dad.

"Does he think I'm better than Robinho?" Bellamy said. "Probably not. Because Robinho will do a couple of step overs and a couple of tricks and my son would appreciate that more than me tracking back and doing the dirty work.


"I think all kids are Robinho fans. When I went over to Sierra Leone in the summer, Robinho was the first person they all asked about..

"He catches the eye. He catches my eye. To be mentioned in the same breath as him is an honour. I am just enjoying that fact. To be fighting it out with him is an achievement all on its own.

"If you had told me a couple of years ago when I was out with injury for a year at West Ham that I would be fighting it out with a player someone paid £32m for, that people would be holding me in that regard, I would have laughed."

Don't pinch yourself too hard. That's Bellamy being modest. It's not part of his image but it happens quite often actually.

Not on the pitch, obviously. On the pitch, he turns himself into the snarling, yapping, moaning player who referees and opposition fans love to hate.

"I have to turn myself into that person to get myself going," Bellamy said. "If my mouth's quiet, then I'm quiet in the game, too."

The real Bellamy, though, is a thoughtful man with a keen sense of his own limitations and a hunger to learn from the superstars who surround him at City.

He has not thrown his toys out of the pram in the wake of Mark Hughes' sacking as he was reported to have done.

He was shocked when Hughes was fired and he readily admits that he owes him and Sir Bobby Robson great debts of gratitude as the biggest influences on his career.

But he has not demanded a transfer. He has not led a player rebellion. He has not had a row with new boss Roberto Mancini. He does not want to leave.

"Listen," he said, as he kept an eye on the Arsenal-Aston Villa game at his Cheshire apartment yesterday, "Man City could get another Craig Bellamy within two minutes.

"There are better players than me out there. But this has been my best year in football and I just want to keep going the way I am. I think the way I have been playing reflects on Mark Hughes.

"If you do your homework on me and check my background, you might be surprised to find that a lot of people speak very well of me inside the game, because believe it or not, my attitude is very good.

"I wasn't upset about being left out of the starting line up against Stoke on Boxing Day. I knew about that at least four days earlier.

"I have had seven knee operations in the last nine years and it is no secret that I struggle to play two games in a week because of my patella tendon.

"The physios went to see Mancini about it early in the week and he was great. He understood. Me playing two games in three days just wasn't going to happen. The headlines from it about me being dropped were predictable but they weren't accurate.

"I've just seen Cesc Fabregas score for Arsenal after coming off the bench. They didn't say he was dropped, did they?

"I knew there would be a lot of stories like that because people knew I had a very good relationship with Mark Hughes.

"This might surprise you but even though I completely respect Mark Hughes, I don't have his mobile number on my phone. I wouldn't ring him up. I don't have that relationship with him.

"I have not spoken to him since the day he was sacked. I have a professional relationship with him. He is a very quiet guy. He keeps himself distant and I am similar.

"I am relieved that I was able to play well for him because he put his reputation on the line to bring me to this club and I take enormous satisfaction from the fact that I was able to reward him for that.

"I went to see him in his room after we had been told he was fired. I wasn't yelling about what I was going to do or anything. I just wanted to thank him.

"When I got there, I didn't know what to say. What do you say to a man who you highly respect and who has just lost his job?

"He said to me: 'You have been incredible this season. Just carry on. You are on the best stage you could ever have. Carry on playing the way you are. This is the perfect platform for you'.

"Then his family came in and it all got emotional. It was the first time I'd seen him emotional and I realised it was not the place for me to be."

Bellamy has dedicated his life to football, from the moment he left home in Cardiff at the age of 14 to join Norwich City because he realised he was being drawn close to teenage delinquency.

Now he is revelling in being at a club that appears to have limitless potential and taking huge joy in being surrounded by a cast of superstars.

"The players I have been around and the stage I have been on has given me a massive incentive and allowed me to play at this level," Bellamy said. "I know in a few years this will all be gone. I just enjoy it while I can.

"When Carlos Tevez came in, I watched what he did and didn't do and I try and pick up as much from him as I can. I like Tevez a lot. These last seven or eight weeks, he has been brilliant. He has been a pleasure to work with.

"This has been my best year in football and the reason for that is that I have been able to work with this standard of player.

"If there are players who are going to come to the club in January, that might even lift me again to kick on towards the end of the season.

"But there might be a stage, if we get the players to win the Premier League, when I might be out of my depths. That might be too much for me.

"Do I think I am going to be here in two or three years lifting trophies? No I don't. I don't think I will be able to sustain the level of play necessary. I think fitness will be a problem. My body has taken a toll.

"I'd love to be here long enough to win a title but I haven't thought too much about it. People thought I would be shipped out when the big signings came in in the summer but I thought of that as an opportunity on the big stage.

"I was very touched by the reception I got from the City fans during the Stoke game. I will remember it for the rest of my life. I do give my all for the teams I play for. Newcastle, Blackburn and Celtic, I was a huge favourite with these clubs, too.

"But I try and keep it in perspective because I know how quickly things can change. I might get an injury next week and be out for four or five months. Then I'd become a bad signing again."

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion ... 69105.html

Nuff said.

[dazlebluefrog]

it's great news he wants to stay, i'm pleased some of you admit you were wrong about him ,i wanted him to come to us cause i saw the west ham/pompey match last year where he played great ,i like his attitude about giving 100% ,just wish some of the others did the same i.e robbie, ade.. etc etc ,i'd love him to come off the bench in the league cup final against villa and score the winning goal would really cement his place as a city legend

[The Original Special One]

Great interview, and probably a true and genuine insight into a player who I've always been a fan of.

And having worked in Sierra Leone myself, I was particularly pleased to hear about the work he's been doing there

[Chinners]

Craig Bellamy Exclusive Interview Part II B*ll*x
I never felt the same about Newcastle after Bobby Robson was sacked

Craig Bellamy turned down the sound on the match he was watching in his Cheshire flat.One of the most controversial players in the Premier League wanted to explain what makes him tick. And to provide an insight into why his talent on the pitch is sometimes matched by a talent for getting himself into trouble. Bellamy has been involved in a series of high-profile incidents in his 13-year professional career. There was the physical confrontation with Newcastle coach John Carver in 2004, when he was said to have flung a chair at him, the time he called Graeme Souness a liar in a television interview, the texts he sent to Alan Shearer. Then there was the time he brandished a golf club at Liverpool teammate John Arne Riise on a club mid-season break and the false accusations levelled at him that he had gone on strike at West Ham when he was on the verge of joining Manchester City.

“Because I run on high emotions,” Bellamy said, “emotions come first and then I think about it later. So there’s a lot of stuff I would have done differently during my career. “But I have worked out what works for me and what doesn’t. I know how to motivate myself. I don’t show humility on the pitch. Of course I don’t. As soon as I cross the white line, I have to go out there believing I am the best, everyone is here to watch me, all that rubbish. “The worst thing an opponent could do is kick me. If the game’s quiet and the crowd’s quiet, it’s the worst thing that could happen to me. “When fans boo me, it gives me something extra. It gives me such a lift. It makes me want to embarrass a player or score a good goal or close down when I don’t need to close down.

“My aim then is to try and upset the fans as much as I can. If a player needs to try and break my concentration, that’s fine. I’m not a player who lives on concentration. “There’s nothing personal in talking to players. It can upset a lot of people but I have never, ever injured a player. I have never gone through a player. “Sometimes, you get the odd player who feels he has to do a stupid challenge to show he cares and get a cheer. That’s cowardice to me. “Bravery is getting on the ball and showing the crowd you are not afraid to make a mistake. That’s what I try and live by. If I am having a bad time, I get on the ball as much as I can. “Me being annoying is nothing personal. It’s what gets me motivated. I’ve tried to be quiet and if I’m quiet with my mouth, I’m quiet with my feet.”

His image off the pitch has been a problem, too, but Bellamy insisted that many of the incidents with which he has been involved have been exaggerated. He has never spoken before about the altercation with Carver which happened at Newcastle airport as Sir Bobby Robson’s side were waiting to fly to a match against Real Mallorca. The argument was seen as a symptom of Robson’s loss of control over a troublesome squad but Bellamy has a different story to tell.

“The thing people don’t know is that John Carver is one of my best friends. He was at my wedding. As a coach and player, we used to go out in the evenings together. I liked him a lot. “The row before the Mallorca game had started at training a few hours earlier. I parked in his parking space. He’s a coach, he should have been in before me so I parked in his space.

“I knew he was upset about it and I kept winding him up. We had a bit of a confrontation at the airport and I was fuming then because he had had a go at me. “So I had a big go at him. But we didn’t know what to do because we are friends so we were not going to punch each other so we ended up wrestling stupidly. “I didn’t throw a chair at him. I threw a chair out of the way to go and argue with him and it nearly hit Shay Given but that was it. “Someone went to get the manager and Bobby Robson came in and yelled at everyone to get out and get on the plane. I was saying ’I’m not going, I’m not getting on the plane, I’m going home to see my missus’. “Bobby Robson told John Carver to get on the plane and I was still saying I was going home. He put his arm round me and said ’walk with me son’. “So I walked with him and he started asking me about how my kids were, how they were doing at school, how was my missus. The next thing I knew I was on the plane. “I was thinking ’how the f*** did I get here’. If he’d told me I had to get on the plane, I wouldn’t have got on. “That evening, I was in my room in Majorca and still not happy. It didn’t take much in those days to put me on edge. So Bobby Robson has come round to my room and brought John Carver and Alan Shearer with him.

“I thought they had come to gang up on me so I was ready to have a right go back. I thought ’I’ll have a right go here’. “But then Sir Bobby started blaming everything on John Carver and made him apologise to me. Then he told Alan what a great player I was and Alan had to agree. “Sir Bobby gave me no room to argue. I was just sitting there taking compliments. I had been desperate to have an argument but I had nothing to go against. “The next thing I know, I’m shaking everybody’s hand and we’re all friends. I ended up apologising to John Carver as well. Bobby Robson was a great man. I found it very hard to feel the same about Newcastle when he was fired.”

Bellamy was such a fervent admirer of Sir Bobby that he was sickened when he was sacked as Newcastle boss and found it hard to play for his successor, Graeme Souness. The two men fell out spectacularly and after Souness criticised Bellamy after a game, Bellamy accused Souness of a ’downright lie’ during a television interview in January 2005.

“If there’s one thing I regret most,” Bellamy said, “it’s probably doing that interview. I meant what I said but I shouldn’t have done it. “I do find it difficult to take when people question my attitude. I have had seven knee operations in nine years and that proves my dedication to the game. “I live away from my family which I completely dislike. But I understand the game. I take the game so seriously that I have sacrificed most of my life for it. “I left home in Cardiff at 14 to go to Norwich which might as well have been the other end of the world. If I was going to do it, I was going to give it my all.

“Now, I have been able to give my kids a living that I am able to feel very proud of. Mark Hughes and Bobby Robson put me on that platform to be able to do that. They will be the people that stick out most in my mind that I am grateful to.” Robson’s departure also led indirectly to his fall-out with Shearer over mocking texts he sent the former England centre forward about his physical decline. “I always got on fine with Shearer but when Bobby Robson went, maybe I resented him a bit for how the manager left,” Bellamy said. “That’s where my relationship with him broke down. But he was a phenomenal player to play with and I am grateful for the opportunity I had to play with him.”

Later in his career, Bellamy was also falsely accused of going on strike at West Ham to force through his move to Manchester City.

“The move had been agreed between the two clubs and so I was driving up to Manchester to take my medical,” Bellamy said.
“When I was half way up there, there was some problem between the clubs over part of the fee and so I drove home to Cardiff. “I spoke to Gianfranco Zola and he said that in an ideal world he would like me to play against Fulham the following day but he said he knew that couldn’t happen because I had missed two days of training and my head was all over the place.

“It was never a question of me refusing to play. It was never a question of him even asking me to play and me saying ’no’. It wasn’t an issue but that wasn’t what was reported.”

Bellamy insists that, off the pitch at least, he is finally beginning to mellow. On the pitch, he remains as eager as ever to prove himself. “I have heard people saying we are all on trial now that Roberto Mancini has taken over at City,” Bellamy said. “But at a top club, you are always on trial. If you don’t play well, there will be somebody there to come in and take your place. “I play for my three kids more than anyone else. I want to try to set them an example. All I can do is give my best and see where that takes me.”

[Swales4ever]

CAN SOMEONE NAME ALL THE JOURNOS AND PUNDITS THAT LIED ABOUT WHAT BELLAMY WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE SAID?

I WANT TO SEND THAT LIST TO CRAIG TO MAKE SURE HE SUES ALL OF THEM.

THANKS.

WORTHY, SENSIBLE AND VERY EFFECTIVE SUGGESTION!
UNDERWRITTEN.

[Crazy_Cabbie]

I loved this Quote from Bellers in that interview about Sir Bobby Robson, RIP....

“Bobby Robson told John Carver to get on the plane and I was still saying I was going home. He put his arm round me and said ’walk with me son’. “So I walked with him and he started asking me about how my kids were, how they were doing at school, how was my missus. The next thing I knew I was on the plane. “I was thinking ’how the f*** did I get here’.

Classic