' Craig Bellamy will be given time to decide '

' Craig Bellamy will be given time to decide '

Friday 16th May 2014.




Craig Bellamy: Veteran Cardiff striker weighing up his options after relegation


Cardiff City will not be rushing Craig Bellamy into a decision on his future, with the striker given 'time to reflect'.

The 34-year-old forward is among those set to be out of contract in South Wales this summer.

With Cardiff having suffered relegation out of the Premier League, he must now decide whether to stay on in the Championship or follow a different path.

Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claims no decision has been taken as yet, and he is not expecting one any time soon.

Solskjaer told Wales Online: "He is considering his future at the end of a hard and tough season.


"Craig needs time to reflect."

Bellamy is not the only player due to drop into the free agent pool, with Don Cowie another who must decide whether to accept the offer of fresh terms or move on.

Solskjaer added on the Scottish midfielder: "Don's contract is coming to an end, but we have offered him a new deal.

"He has a few offers to think about.

"Don is a terrific professional who has given us everything he has every day in training and matches.

"I haven't been able to give him enough football and understand the frustration that can cause and which may cause a player to think about other places."

Solskjaer hopes a mass exodus of top talent from the Cardiff ranks can be avoided, with it his intention to retain a number of key men - particularly those who are capable of getting goals.


He said: "I will try to keep hold of the most important players, of course, we must have a strike force to score us goals.

"If you have players who can score maybe 20 to 25 goals that's a good start.

"If two players can total 35-40 goals between them for us that will be vital.

"Nicky Maynard, for instance, has a year left on his contract.

"He has not played as much as we would have liked, but he will come back for next season."

Cardiff will also be expected to add over the summer, but Solskjaer claims no budget talks have been held as yet.

"That depends on who we manage to keep, who we have to sell and how much we get for them," he said.

"That's a balancing act.

"It's not as though you have X amount, now go and spend it.

"We will have to see what happens and we are also looking at different options including loan deals from top clubs and maybe free transfers if the right players become available."

I still do not understand the Maynard reference, is he saying he wants him to stay and commit longer? Or leave this window?

i think Craig has had plenty of time, someone needs to make the decision for him........keeps on going missing, whether he is ill or not........we need a fully committed loyal squad, and he just isnt......when he feels like it..or intermittently is no good for the club.........

I got to be honest...Bellamy hasn't looked interested in a while. Since the second half of the season he just hasn't seemed bothered. I don't know if it was because of that time when Whitts was supposedly booed off (think it was Norwich game in Feb) and he had a go at the fans. He's been a shadow of himself really...hasn't even been mouthing off at refs as much as usual!
Perhaps I'm being unfair on him, don't know.

I got to be honest...Bellamy hasn't looked interested in a while. Since the second half of the season he just hasn't seemed bothered. I don't know if it was because of that time when Whitts was supposedly booed off (think it was Norwich game in Feb) and he had a go at the fans. He's been a shadow of himself really...hasn't even been mouthing off at refs as much as usual!
Perhaps I'm being unfair on him, don't know.

When he reacted to Whitts being booed I felt that was not about Whitts so much and more about Bellamy himself - he was aware of criticism that he was getting on message boards and through the grapevine, that's why he reacted like he did.

I don't quite understand what the club mean by giving Bellamy time to think about a decision - The CLUB should be making that decision right here and now... not waiting during the Summer. Bellamy is spent, he doesn't produce anything for us now. Ole should grow some balls and wish Bellamy all the best for the future.

I got to be honest...Bellamy hasn't looked interested in a while. Since the second half of the season he just hasn't seemed bothered. I don't know if it was because of that time when Whitts was supposedly booed off (think it was Norwich game in Feb) and he had a go at the fans. He's been a shadow of himself really...hasn't even been mouthing off at refs as much as usual!
Perhaps I'm being unfair on him, don't know.

goes back a bit longer than this........he had time off to sort his head out last year......and there was some sort of problem at Palace away.......didnt hardly play for Malky towards the end of Malkys tenure........
and for me he hasnt been doing it over the whole of the 2 years, lots of running in fairness, but to little avail..nobody has a list or catalogue of great Bellamy moments............they all happened prior to him coming here

Is Craig still on his Driving ban or is he back behind the wheel??

Is Craig still on his Driving ban or is he back behind the wheel??

whats that got to do with anything?

Bellamy is just going to get worse, hearts not in it,
he certainly wont be spending his spare time in the gym or running.
most likely drinking and the likes

If anything, I want to see a group who work together and try their hardest in each game, fight to fitness if their not fit and get back in the team, Bellamy is one who played when it suited him.

We can easily do better without him, people like Jordon Mutch who didn't turn up to the last 5 games still showed him how it's done, pushing forward no matter if it was MM or Ole and getting goals.

Wants to coach the development side apparently. Interesting decision for the club to make.

Wants to coach the development side apparently. Interesting decision for the club to make.

Interesting indeed, not sure how to take it but for now I hope he doesn't play for us.