BELLAMY SAYS WARNOCK REFUSES TO PICK LOCAL TALENT &

Bellamy tried hard to get Cardiff Academy players into Warnock's Bluebirds first team, but to no avail


Bellamy says Warnock Refused to pick local talent or youngsters and also people at the top of the club need to also change.


Tuesday 5th November 2019





Sunday Times


Cardiff City legend Craig Bellamy has outlined the frustrations he felt over Neil Warnock's reluctance to pick any home-grown Welsh players.

The former Bluebirds Academy boss spelt out his concerns about Cardiff's refusal to bring through young talent in a typically candid interview with the Sunday Times.

His words will resonate with many fans, who had become accustomed down the years to cheering on Welsh teenagers in their team.

Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan will also take note. He has previously stated he wants local youngsters brought through as part of his plan for Wales' capital city club, but had never actually pushed for it, but has seen a host of different managers - and certainly not just Warnock - embark down a different route.

Bellamy outlined the chalk and cheese nature between Cardiff and his new club Anderlecht, where manager Vincent Kompany has given first-team debuts to six Academy teens this season.





Kompany appointed Bellamy as his under-21 manager at the Belgian giants.

Bellamy maintains there is a group of highly gifted teenagers at Cardiff, but admits he failed in his bid to help get them into the senior side.

Bellamy does not specifically mention Warnock, it must be emphasised, and has always got on well with the Bluebirds boss.

But he does tell the paper: “I tried to change it at Cardiff because I’m from there. But you can’t change above you. Everyone at the club has to believe in it. So it’s from one extreme at Cardiff to another here at Anderlecht where it’s totally about development.”

Warnock has always gone with more seasoned professionals and it has worked under him for Cardiff, the manager taking the Bluebirds into the Premier League and almost keeping them there.

But with results going wrong this season, some Cardiff fans have bemoaned the absence of any local Welsh talent at a club with a proud history of bringing through the young guns.






Wales' capital city is always a rich sporting hot-spot, producing some of the greatest footballers on the planet over the past few decades and Bellamy believes it will continue to do so.

Ryan Giggs, Gareth Bale, Bellamy himself and Aaron Ramsey each come from the area - albeit the first three were lost to the Bluebirds for different reasons.

But John Toshack, of course, made his Cardiff debut at just 16. Eddie May's successful Cardiff team of the 1990s had plenty of local talents, including Nathan Blake, Jason Perry and Damon Searle, with the fans feeding off their passion.

More recently, Wales stars Ramsey, Rob Earnshaw, Joe Ledley, James Collins, Chris Gunter and Declan John each came through the Cardiff system.






A young Aaron Ramsey came through at Cardiff...

... as did Joe Ledley
Cardiff have moved away from that mantra in recent times, with Warnock, Russell Slade, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Malky Mackay and Dave Jones tending to prefer the more experienced option.

By contrast, arch-rivals Swansea City have heavily invested in youth, bringing through the likes of Ben Davies, Joe Allen and more recently Dan James, Connor Roberts and Joe Rodon.

It has led to often unfair criticism of the Cardiff Academy, where excellent talent spotting does go on behind the scenes. The Bluebirds discovered new Wales wing flier Rabbi Matondo, for example, before Manchester City poached him away and sold him to Bundesliga high-fliers Schalke for £11m.







However, Bellamy feels it is the attitude from above that needs to change, not the successful system that is in place.

He cited the difference with Anderlecht, where Kompany wants Bellamy to put forward teenagers from the under-21s and acts upon his recommendations.

It may be easier to do that, of course, in Belgian football than it is in the hurly-burly grind of the Championship.


Eddie May's Cardiff team containing home-grown talent, including Nathan Blake and Jason Perry
Bellamy, though, is a big advocate of the Kompany method.

"There have been six youngsters from my team here making their first-team debut already this season,” he says. “Not one in two years at Cardiff. I tried and I tried but I couldn’t even get them into first-team training."

Bellamy came within a whisker of landing the Wales job ahead of Ryan Giggs, with FAW President David Griffiths having the casting vote after the two legends had a 3-3 split from the six-man interviewing panel.

He also turned down the chance to boss Oxford, choosing instead to focus on trying to bring through Welsh teenagers at Cardiff.

It proved to no avail, but Bellamy insists: “Development is something I love. Even as a first-team manager I would want academy players because that should be the beat of every team as well as making it work as a business.

“Vincent (Kompany) has been very bold in what he’s done. It’s a massive reboot.

“Are we going to get results straight away? You can’t have this amount of young players and expect to be challenging. But in my opinion, in one, two years this will be a top club. There are too many good young players not to. If we can keep them, there’s so much quality.

“It’s my job to get them ready for the first team. Six have already made their first-team debut. Two were 18, three were 17, one was 16.

“There’s no point having the best young players in Belgium if we are not playing them."



Warnock will continue to go with players he knows and veterans.

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I agree with Bellamy with this because not long ago we had a young Welsh talent in Tommy O'Sullivan and we never gave him a chance. Warnock has only this season with us and then a fresh start with the whole club. I would love nothing more than to see young Welsh talent thrive under our 1st team, but sadly Warnock is all about what's In front of him.

Nothing wrong at all with both individuals but as Us Cardiff fans we would love Welsh players in our team within our Academy.

I agree with Bellamy with this because not long ago we had a young Welsh talent in Tommy O'Sullivan and we never gave him a chance. Warnock has only this season with us and then a fresh start with the whole club. I would love nothing more than to see young Welsh talent thrive under our 1st team, but sadly Warnock is all about what's In front of him.

Nothing wrong at all with both individuals but as Us Cardiff fans we would love Welsh players in our team within our Academy.

the boy failed at Colchester...

I agree with Bellamy with this because not long ago we had a young Welsh talent in Tommy O'Sullivan and we never gave him a chance. Warnock has only this season with us and then a fresh start with the whole club. I would love nothing more than to see young Welsh talent thrive under our 1st team, but sadly Warnock is all about what's In front of him.

Nothing wrong at all with both individuals but as Us Cardiff fans we would love Welsh players in our team within our Academy.

I have some sympathy with Bellamys views but maybe all the best players in our various youth teams have been a bit crap.You mention Tommy O Sullivan who we never gave a chance to. He now struggles to get into the first team at Hereford suggesting he was never that good in the first place. Can't thing of a single youth team player who has not got into the first team who has got into the first team who has achieved much anywhere else.

It's a big trade mark in warnock .. he plans for a season not for the future his career is built on that !! Its not a bad thing for alot of teams struggling to stay up or gain promotion off of limited resources but you cant survive at the top.with that style of management. It's clear we dont get a grip on home talent.and Bellamy is correct this hasn't happened for a long time.

Alarm bells are with Tan & Choo

It's a big trade mark in warnock .. he plans for a season not for the future his career is built on that !! Its not a bad thing for alot of teams struggling to stay up or gain promotion off of limited resources but you cant survive at the top.with that style of management. It's clear we dont get a grip on home talent.and Bellamy is correct this hasn't happened for a long time.

Alarm bells are with Tan & Choo

if we had talent in the academy that was being ignored at least some of them would be making it elsewhere surely ?

its a stick to hit Warnock with because he didn't want a nutjob around the 1st team...

Righto, let's see,

of the supporters on here who are outraged by Warnock's "Refusal to play Local Talent" in the first team:

1. Which of our players in the youth system do you think are good enough for a championship promotion chasing side?

2. Who have you seen playing at preseason/reserve/U18 level that you believe can make the step up NOW?

3 Which of our youth players in your own opinion made a great impression during our Carabo Cup loss to Luton and why?

4. Can you name the 2 Development players that have been in the matchday squad (Not always named) during the last 10 or 12 games?

5. Who of our development players (After Ramsey) have left our club and gone on to better things. (Matondo can not count as the club could do nothing about that)

Remember it was Warnock who came in and completely overhauled our youth setup. The benefits will not show for maybe a while yet.

needs to knuckle down with out controversy for a couple of years and prove a point.

instead its taken him 4 months where he has not proved anything before he starts mouthing off.

not the first time he has lined up to kick our manager when things are at a low either.

Cardiff City legend. He's no legend, mouthy little scrote trying to stay relevant.

Like someone else said, if these youngsters have not graduated at Cardiff, how come they are not setting the world alight at other clubs. Perhaps Warnock has overlooked some local talent, but it looks as if everyone else has as well. Are they all wrong, or is it just that these youngsters are not good enough at this level.

It's a big trade mark in warnock .. he plans for a season not for the future his career is built on that !! Its not a bad thing for alot of teams struggling to stay up or gain promotion off of limited resources but you cant survive at the top.with that style of management. It's clear we dont get a grip on home talent.and Bellamy is correct this hasn't happened for a long time.

Alarm bells are with Tan & Choo

if we had talent in the academy that was being ignored at least some of them would be making it elsewhere surely ?

its a stick to hit Warnock with because he didn't want a nutjob around the 1st team...

I'm not a massive fan of Bellamy as a person as a footballer yes as a coach for cardiff most of us will never know

Our academy structure has been shite for a long time and ultimately that's down to tan & choo to make sure it's not over looked.

Bellamy is speaking a fare amount of sense about warnock.. warnock has proved how power demanding he is with the likes of tomlin & now texts on bogle.

Cameron coxe should be tried ahead of peltier who is constantly out of position. Watch him against bristol town closely on sunday and you will see what I mean.

When we were 3 up against qpr we had coxe on the bench. It would have been the perfect game to bring him on but other subs were used.

Man city were after him reportedly so that must say something. He has been a very good player in the games I have seen him play and should be given a chance

Wasn’t centre back now playing for WBA in our Academy, also Tom Lockyer at Charlton in Welsh Squad and Reagan Poole also Welsh Squad. Cameron Cox certainly deserves a chance and why did we sign Murphy and Joe Day as third choice keepers when we have Wales under 21 keeper who we send to Barry Town on our books who we could have played in Cup games? I don’t think Warnock and Bellamy could ever get on Chalk and Cheese!

It's a big trade mark in warnock .. he plans for a season not for the future his career is built on that !! Its not a bad thing for alot of teams struggling to stay up or gain promotion off of limited resources but you cant survive at the top.with that style of management. It's clear we dont get a grip on home talent.and Bellamy is correct this hasn't happened for a long time.

Alarm bells are with Tan & Choo

if we had talent in the academy that was being ignored at least some of them would be making it elsewhere surely ?

its a stick to hit Warnock with because he didn't want a nutjob around the 1st team...

I'm not a massive fan of Bellamy as a person as a footballer yes as a coach for cardiff most of us will never know

Our academy structure has been shite for a long time and ultimately that's down to tan & choo to make sure it's not over looked.

Bellamy is speaking a fare amount of sense about warnock.. warnock has proved how power demanding he is with the likes of tomlin & now texts on bogle.

sorry but Tan and choo have little to do with the talent pool in South Wales..
people blame the academy for under achieving but you can only work with what you have.
as for Warnock his managerial career says all you need to know about him as does Craigs managerial career tell you all you need to know about him..
btw tomlin was 2 stone heavier than now....2 stone over weight ?
and the text was 2 years ago

Wasn’t centre back now playing for WBA in our Academy, also Tom Lockyer at Charlton in Welsh Squad and Reagan Poole also Welsh Squad. Cameron Cox certainly deserves a chance and why did we sign Murphy and Joe Day as third choice keepers when we have Wales under 21 keeper who we send to Barry Town on our books who we could have played in Cup games? I don’t think Warnock and Bellamy could ever get on Chalk and Cheese!

Ajayi came here as a 21 year old .

I agree with Bellamy with this because not long ago we had a young Welsh talent in Tommy O'Sullivan and we never gave him a chance. Warnock has only this season with us and then a fresh start with the whole club. I would love nothing more than to see young Welsh talent thrive under our 1st team, but sadly Warnock is all about what's In front of him.

Nothing wrong at all with both individuals but as Us Cardiff fans we would love Welsh players in our team within our Academy.

I have some sympathy with Bellamys views but maybe all the best players in our various youth teams have been a bit crap.You mention Tommy O Sullivan who we never gave a chance to. He now struggles to get into the first team at Hereford suggesting he was never that good in the first place. Can't thing of a single youth team player who has not got into the first team who has got into the first team who has achieved much anywhere else.

Agree

Wasn’t centre back now playing for WBA in our Academy, also Tom Lockyer at Charlton in Welsh Squad and Reagan Poole also Welsh Squad. Cameron Cox certainly deserves a chance and why did we sign Murphy and Joe Day as third choice keepers when we have Wales under 21 keeper who we send to Barry Town on our books who we could have played in Cup games? I don’t think Warnock and Bellamy could ever get on Chalk and Cheese!

Ajayi came here as a 21 year old .

Lockyer and Poole left during the Mackay era. What do they have to do with Warnock not playing young talent?

And as for the keeper, I think it's more beneficial for his development to be playing competitive football rather than reserve games with maybe 2 cup games in a season!

It's a big trade mark in warnock .. he plans for a season not for the future his career is built on that !! Its not a bad thing for alot of teams struggling to stay up or gain promotion off of limited resources but you cant survive at the top.with that style of management. It's clear we dont get a grip on home talent.and Bellamy is correct this hasn't happened for a long time.

Alarm bells are with Tan & Choo

if we had talent in the academy that was being ignored at least some of them would be making it elsewhere surely ?

its a stick to hit Warnock with because he didn't want a nutjob around the 1st team...

Agreed.

needs to knuckle down with out controversy for a couple of years and prove a point.

instead its taken him 4 months where he has not proved anything before he starts mouthing off.

not the first time he has lined up to kick our manager when things are at a low either.

Agree. Warnock far from perfect but Bellamy should wind his neck in.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footb ... astle.html

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... to-warnock

Wilfried Zaha, Nathaniel Clyne, Sean Scannell, John Bostock etc. I think if any of our academy players were good enough, Warnock would be more than eager to take a look.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/crystal-palace/11120502/Crystal-Palace-manager-Neil-Warnock-praises-young-stars-as-hot-prospect-Sullay-Kaikai-impresses-against-Newcastle.html

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... to-warnock

Wilfried Zaha, Nathaniel Clyne, Sean Scannell, John Bostock etc. I think if any of our academy players were good enough, Warnock would be more than eager to take a look.

and many others including giving a debut to 17 year old Phil Jagielka.

Bellamy may well be right from a Cardiff perspective but not overall in his (Warnock's) career

If we had the players to be put in, I believe he would do so

Bellamy may well be right from a Cardiff perspective but not overall in his (Warnock's) career

If we had the players to be put in, I believe he would do so

Most people agree Cameron coxe is good enough but he has not had a sniff of a chance. Warnock prefers to play players out of position than give him a go.

In fairness there has been a few who could have at least got a place on the bench

We had 7 players in the Welsh team that beat England 4-0:in the victory shield Think it was 2009 and only Declan John played a league game for us The same city youth team beat Southampton 5-0 and when you see who were in the Southampton team that day One now plays for Arsenal one Liverpool one Man Utd and one Southampton on a regular basis and two others have played for Southampton in the premiership
So what went wrong with really only Tom Lockyer playing at a decent level ( he was not in the Welsh team either ) The academy went backwards starting from the Malky era and the people he introduced to run the academy At the time academy staff were calling this bunch of lads their golden generation.

I’m not 100% sure but I think Warnock brought through the likes of Kyle Naughton, Kyle Walker and Michael tonge at Sheffield Utd

Bellamy may well be right from a Cardiff perspective but not overall in his (Warnock's) career

If we had the players to be put in, I believe he would do so

Most people agree Cameron coxe is good enough but he has not had a sniff of a chance. Warnock prefers to play players out of position than give him a go.

In fairness there has been a few who could have at least got a place on the bench

by most people are you talking about a few people on a message board...or people with experience of playing / managing in the championship ?