Malky backs immaculate Bellamy
Thu Jan 31, 2013 4:59 am
Craig Bellamy grabbed the winner for Cardiff City
MALKY MACKAY has hailed ‘immaculate’ Craig Bellamy and outlined the vital role his star man has to play as the Bluebirds push for promotion.
With his side 10 points clear at the top of the Championship, the Cardiff City boss and his men are back from their warm weather camp in Dubai and preparing for Saturday’s potentially exacting trip to Leeds.
With 18 games remaining the Bluebirds are in the driving seat and tantalisingly close to reaching the top flight for the first time in more than half a century.
While getting across the line is going to take a concerted team effort, Cardiff are going to need their 33-year-old talisman Bellamy fit and firing on all cylinders if they are to finally go up.
Mackay puts Bellamy’s successful season down to the frank exchange of views both men had before Bellamy signed from Liverpool in the summer and due also to a new level of maturity within a player who has had his fair share of run-ins with authority on the past.
“Craig has a vital role to play at this club now, but then he has since he arrived,” said Mackay.
“The conversation I had with him at the start about my expectations of him and what he could expect from me were the key.
“We spoke about where the club was headed and we spoke about how I would like him to work and play. We laid the ground rules down for him coming back here and he has certainly lived up to everything I asked of him.
“Craig is the same guy I’ve always known in terms of passion and his appetite for the game, but maturity comes with experience and he is a man with an awful lot of experience.
“The lad I have worked with here has been nothing short of immaculate when it comes to his desire to play and desire to train.
“More than anything, though, he has wanted to be part of a group, to be part of a squad more than be an individual. There’s been no ego at all.”
Indeed that seems to be the big difference between Bellamy’s first spell at his hometown club and his current stay.
The fiery frontman has admitted himself that this time around he feels more relaxed, with less pressure on his shoulders to somehow single-handily drag the club he loves into the Premier League.
Despite the presence of players like Jay Bothroyd and Michael Chopra, his loan spell from Manchester City in the 2010-11 campaign saw miracles expected of him in a season which ended in what at that stage was fast becoming familiar play-off disappointment.
Today, whether it is the stronger squad around him or the presence of Mackay or simply the fact he is just that bit older, Bellamy is happier and enjoying his football perhaps more than he has in a while
And for a man who has had spells at the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester City and Celtic he recently paid his current team-mates the ultimate compliment by describing the Bluebirds’ dressing room this time around as one of the most professional he has ever been in.
“I have asked Craig to be absolutely elite, but also to go out there and enjoy himself. Enjoy the training and enjoy the games,” said Mackay.
“He is one of my leaders, but he’s part of the group. Maybe he feels more comfortable now than he did before, maybe that’s because of different people and personalities, I’m not sure, but he’s certainly been very forthright about how tight a group he’s part of.
“The fact he regards that group as one of the most professional he has ever worked with makes me very proud of the boys he’s talking about there, because Craig has been in some really impressive dressing rooms.”
Mackay certainly seems to be getting the best out of Bellamy and is definitely eking out more pitch time from his man than many managers have in recent years.
Bellamy has made 18 appearances for the Bluebirds so far this season and scored four goals.
Despite injury concerns, knee operations and talk that Bellamy could not play twice in a week he has been a regular for the Bluebirds this campaign.
Over Christmas and New Year the frontman played every second of Cardiff’s hectic four games in 10 days schedule helping the Bluebirds to a perfect 12-point haul.
Indeed Mackay is so confident Bellamy can handle the upcoming schedule he recently gave his blessing to him making himself available for Wales’ friendly with Austria next week.
Mackay believes Bellamy’s current fitness levels are due to two factors, the player himself and the club’s medical department.
“I put it down to the professionalism of Craig, the sacrifices he has made down the years to make sure his body is in the exact place it should be,” added Mackay.
“It’s all about the way he knows when to rest, which supplements to take, the work he does.
“I also give great credit to Richard (Collinge), Sean (Connolly) and Adam (Rattenberry) in our medical department. They have probably managed Craig medically as well as he has been for a long time in his career.
“The proof of that is those four games over 10 days over the Christmas period.”
Bellamy may have missed the Bluebirds’ last outing, an excellent win at Blackpool, with a stomach bug, but he is back to fitness now and raring to go at Elland Road this weekend.
Mackay, his staff and the Cardiff players and supporters will be hoping that is a situation which persists right through to the end of what could be a truly historic season in the Welsh capital.
Read more: Wales Online http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballna ... z2JWg8eiCi
MALKY MACKAY has hailed ‘immaculate’ Craig Bellamy and outlined the vital role his star man has to play as the Bluebirds push for promotion.
With his side 10 points clear at the top of the Championship, the Cardiff City boss and his men are back from their warm weather camp in Dubai and preparing for Saturday’s potentially exacting trip to Leeds.
With 18 games remaining the Bluebirds are in the driving seat and tantalisingly close to reaching the top flight for the first time in more than half a century.
While getting across the line is going to take a concerted team effort, Cardiff are going to need their 33-year-old talisman Bellamy fit and firing on all cylinders if they are to finally go up.
Mackay puts Bellamy’s successful season down to the frank exchange of views both men had before Bellamy signed from Liverpool in the summer and due also to a new level of maturity within a player who has had his fair share of run-ins with authority on the past.
“Craig has a vital role to play at this club now, but then he has since he arrived,” said Mackay.
“The conversation I had with him at the start about my expectations of him and what he could expect from me were the key.
“We spoke about where the club was headed and we spoke about how I would like him to work and play. We laid the ground rules down for him coming back here and he has certainly lived up to everything I asked of him.
“Craig is the same guy I’ve always known in terms of passion and his appetite for the game, but maturity comes with experience and he is a man with an awful lot of experience.
“The lad I have worked with here has been nothing short of immaculate when it comes to his desire to play and desire to train.
“More than anything, though, he has wanted to be part of a group, to be part of a squad more than be an individual. There’s been no ego at all.”
Indeed that seems to be the big difference between Bellamy’s first spell at his hometown club and his current stay.
The fiery frontman has admitted himself that this time around he feels more relaxed, with less pressure on his shoulders to somehow single-handily drag the club he loves into the Premier League.
Despite the presence of players like Jay Bothroyd and Michael Chopra, his loan spell from Manchester City in the 2010-11 campaign saw miracles expected of him in a season which ended in what at that stage was fast becoming familiar play-off disappointment.
Today, whether it is the stronger squad around him or the presence of Mackay or simply the fact he is just that bit older, Bellamy is happier and enjoying his football perhaps more than he has in a while
And for a man who has had spells at the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester City and Celtic he recently paid his current team-mates the ultimate compliment by describing the Bluebirds’ dressing room this time around as one of the most professional he has ever been in.
“I have asked Craig to be absolutely elite, but also to go out there and enjoy himself. Enjoy the training and enjoy the games,” said Mackay.
“He is one of my leaders, but he’s part of the group. Maybe he feels more comfortable now than he did before, maybe that’s because of different people and personalities, I’m not sure, but he’s certainly been very forthright about how tight a group he’s part of.
“The fact he regards that group as one of the most professional he has ever worked with makes me very proud of the boys he’s talking about there, because Craig has been in some really impressive dressing rooms.”
Mackay certainly seems to be getting the best out of Bellamy and is definitely eking out more pitch time from his man than many managers have in recent years.
Bellamy has made 18 appearances for the Bluebirds so far this season and scored four goals.
Despite injury concerns, knee operations and talk that Bellamy could not play twice in a week he has been a regular for the Bluebirds this campaign.
Over Christmas and New Year the frontman played every second of Cardiff’s hectic four games in 10 days schedule helping the Bluebirds to a perfect 12-point haul.
Indeed Mackay is so confident Bellamy can handle the upcoming schedule he recently gave his blessing to him making himself available for Wales’ friendly with Austria next week.
Mackay believes Bellamy’s current fitness levels are due to two factors, the player himself and the club’s medical department.
“I put it down to the professionalism of Craig, the sacrifices he has made down the years to make sure his body is in the exact place it should be,” added Mackay.
“It’s all about the way he knows when to rest, which supplements to take, the work he does.
“I also give great credit to Richard (Collinge), Sean (Connolly) and Adam (Rattenberry) in our medical department. They have probably managed Craig medically as well as he has been for a long time in his career.
“The proof of that is those four games over 10 days over the Christmas period.”
Bellamy may have missed the Bluebirds’ last outing, an excellent win at Blackpool, with a stomach bug, but he is back to fitness now and raring to go at Elland Road this weekend.
Mackay, his staff and the Cardiff players and supporters will be hoping that is a situation which persists right through to the end of what could be a truly historic season in the Welsh capital.
Read more: Wales Online http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballna ... z2JWg8eiCi
Re: Malky back immaculate Bellamy
Thu Jan 31, 2013 7:58 am
