I didn't know this...

[CuteMancs]

Craig Bellamy

This column enjoys being an unashamed, out-of-the-closet fan of Bellamy. And the fact that Ryan Giggs is shortlisted for SPOTY helps us return there. Giggs received a load of glowing media for his recent Unicef trip to Sierra Leone. And rightly so. Yet compared to Bellamy, his contribution was minimal.

Bellamy’s personal investment in Sierra Leone is going to cost him approaching £1 million. He has succeeded in putting in place the first ever structure for youth football in the country. He already has 1,600 players, he employs 40 coaches and 40 managers on the payroll and this is just the start. Next year, a new state-of-the-art football academy outside Freetown, the capital, will open. Early figures, through Unicef, show that while the average secondary school attendance rate in Sierra Leone is 21 per cent, Bellamy’s 1,600 footballers average over 80 per cent.

No, Bellamy is not going to be making money from this. No, he will not be selling players abroad. This is true genuine altruism. A heavenly act. One of the heroes of 2009.

[john68]

I read somewhere that Bellers isn't interested in the publicity, he just wants to quietly get on with doing what he does and help those involved.

[Goataldo]

Good to read that.

I used to work with a lad who had family in Freetown during the war there; he had some scary tales to relay. It's fantastic that the likes of Bellers are ploughing their dough in to help out.

UNICEF would prob prefer to use that turncoat Giggs for their publicity anyway, the media love ManUre a little more than us, as we all know. Hopefully that will change as Taggart declines into further senility and eventual retirement, and we step in to fill the gap as they implode.

[dazby]

Keep up Cutemancs. Your thread is the third time his work in Sierra Leone has been highlighted.

But it doesnt' hurt to do it again.