“Football – a simple game really, yet generally, in the game, we make the simple things seem harder. But it’s those simple things that get you to the top.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I have had my eyes opened to a different side to me. I’m a much happier person. There was always this Jekyll and Hyde thing with me.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I knew I needed to move away when I was 15, but when I got to Norwich, I spent nights crying myself to sleep with homesickness. For any young kid moving away from home, that is the biggest thing you have to deal with.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I can understand failure: I’ve failed loads of times in my life; it’s not a problem. I’ve never feared it, because it’s a part of life.”
― Craig Bellamy
“If I ever wrote an autobiography – and I won’t – it would be called ‘Don’t Google Me.’”
― Craig Bellamy
“I’ve always enjoyed the coaching side, working with young players, trying to improve them and to make them not only see football different but to see life differently.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I can understand a bad pass or something like that; I don’t get irate. But the one thing I can never accept is a lack of work rate. You have to be able to give everything you have.”
― Craig Bellamy
“David Brooks – every time I see him, I like him. He breaks lines, runs beyond, and I like him a lot.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Teams do not make their debut in the first XI – individuals do – but it is the team that enables the individual to get the best out of himself. Football IQ, I call it, understanding roles and the team structure.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Football is about so much more than talent.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Being Welsh means you sometimes get exposed to international football earlier. Again, that helps player development, speeds up their thought process in a different kind of environment.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Look, we all make mistakes. That is no problem. But you have to be willing to make up for your mistakes and to help yourself.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Certain players need twice the recovery time of others because they run much more – not because they put in more effort but because they’re playing different positions.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I don’t like the Italian approach. I don’t want to be involved in that kind of football.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I believe I have a lot to offer when I finish football as well. I always said I didn’t want to become a manager, but I changed that view.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I see myself as a different sort of Welsh. Because we are from Cardiff, we see Wales as Cardiff. This is Wales; outside Cardiff is beyond. It’s a strange one. You are really Welsh, but you’re not, if you know what I mean.”
― Craig Bellamy
“John Hartson, he speaks fluent Welsh and has the tattoos all over him to prove his Welshness. But in my own world, no one is more Welsh than myself.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I started to realise I am not as strong as others, and I can’t muscle someone off the ball who is twice the size of me. So I have altered my game, playing on the half-turn, for example, and it’s made me a much better player.”
― Craig Bellamy
“My image is not the greatest, I imagine. You need to know me and understand me, see some of the things I do away from football. Maybe you have to be a fan of me to like me.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I felt bad for Newcastle when they lost their 2005 FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United. They had loaned me out to Celtic, but I still had a lot of affection for them.”
― Craig Bellamy
“If you are going to say something, then be as honest as you can.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I let football drive me crazy. If we lost, I would shut myself away for two or three days, not sleeping, torturing myself about what I did.”
― Craig Bellamy
“It’s up to people to judge whether I’m a good fella.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I played on anger for the first 15 years of my career.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I joined Norwich when I was 15 and moved away from a life living on an estate in Cardiff and everything I knew. I moved away from my girlfriend, who is my wife now, and my nan, who has now passed away. I missed a lot.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I was a troubled young kid, and I would try to break every rule.”
― Craig Bellamy
“So much of my career was affected by injuries. Not just the well documented surgery, but the hamstring pulls and other things. Injuries hit me hard, and they always seemed to come at key times.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Of course I want to keep playing; that’s the best thing for any footballer. But I’m looking forward to not having to put my body through the pain, I have to say.”
― Craig Bellamy
“As a professional, you’re taught from a young age to despise losing. But I began to accept that, in football, you will win some games, and you will lose some games, with draws here and there, too. That’s just the nature of the game.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I do have to pinch myself at times when I look back at some of the things I have achieved. I really do.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I surround myself with family. I have got the most incredible wife in the world and unbelievable kids.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Before, I would spend all my hours at training, come home, sleep, eat, watch football, sleep, and go back to training the next day. Now I do the school run, train, pick up my daughter. I am living in the real world. I am a father now. That has given me more satisfaction than football.”
― Craig Bellamy
“That’s what makes the Premier League the best in the world: the competitiveness and the ability each team possesses can hurt you on their day.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I am reading the biography of Pep Guardiola. I find it really interesting.”
― Craig Bellamy
“There is no one better than Jose Mourinho for how he cherishes his players, and their affection for him is unique.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I want to become one of the greatest managers that has ever lived. Why not? If it doesn’t happen, then I’ve given everything, and I’d be proud of whatever I’m able to achieve.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I had a very good upbringing, which I’m eternally grateful for.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Manchester City is the richest club in the world. They work to a budget that no one else works to, so they can write their own rules.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I always say the best players I have ever worked with are the hardest players I have ever worked with.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I want to make sure that I am always ready: that if I step off the bench, I will make a contribution, then be given my chance.”
― Craig Bellamy
“First and foremost, I am concentrating on staying fit. If I’m fit, I can challenge. If I ain’t fit, I can’t challenge.”
― Craig Bellamy
“What you live for is to wake up in the morning looking forward to training.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I don’t think I’ll ever get away from my reputation.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I was enjoying life at West Ham; I really was. I wanted to do the whole five years there, become a favourite with the fans, and end my career there.”
― Craig Bellamy
“When I left Liverpool, my aim was to get into the top six, and I was looking for a team that could get involved at that level. West Ham were brilliant at the time. They’d signed a lot of players, had a lot of money. But they’ve had problems since then.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I’ve grown up with Kenny Dalglish; now, to be signed by him is a massive honour.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I was just unhappy – and lonely at times. There was always that other side of me nagging away, bringing me down. The anger. Even after good games, I just went home and looked at the bad points. It was just nuts.”
― Craig Bellamy
“In the past, before games, I would near enough make myself ill. Nerves and stuff.”
― Craig Bellamy
“My discipline in myself has got me where I am. I try to emphasise that to young players.”
― Craig Bellamy
“The lads I played football with on the street when I was a kid in Cardiff were as good as me, and in many ways, my career is due to them.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I’ve always had this crazy thought that I have to win something; otherwise, my career’s a complete failure. It’s ridiculous. Will a trophy change me as a person? No. Will it make me a better player? No. So what the hell am I worried about?”
― Craig Bellamy
“I’m aware of my value as a player, of course. But do I need to buy a holiday home that I’m only going to use two weeks every year? Course not. It’s a waste. Why not give the money to people who could do with it.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Basically, we are all chimps. The human side is at the front of our forehead, but the chimp is the part that lashes out. When I play, I am completely chimp-orientated.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Life isn’t just about football. The adventure starts when you finish, and I’m looking forward to that.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I’ve been playing at a professional level for 17, 18 years now, and there’s more to life. I love the game, don’t get me wrong – I’ve cherished every moment of it.”
― Craig Bellamy
“It’s difficult. I’m a single parent now, and I’m having such a battle to see my kids on a daily basis. It’s so hard.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I have so much to look forward to after football.”
― Craig Bellamy
“My brother is gay – he’s a couple of years older than me, and I could not be more proud of him. It was right for him. If a player was going through something similar at a younger age, I feel I would be understanding because I was there to watch it with my brother.”
― Craig Bellamy
“Glasgow was a tough city. You were adored, and you were hated.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I’ve kept my nose clean when I’ve been asked to to play out of position, and I’ve done it.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I’ve got belief that the Newcastle fans know how much I want to play for them.”
― Craig Bellamy
“If someone labels you, it is very hard to shake it off.”
― Craig Bellamy
“All I want to do now is prove my temperament is not a problem and get people talking about my football again.”
― Craig Bellamy
“I did get myself into little scrapes when I was younger and a bit stupid, but there is only one manager I have worked under who ever spoke a bad word about me.”
― Craig Bellamy
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