Craig Bellamy Shows his old self as he loses it last night
Wed Apr 01, 2026 8:09 am
Craig Bellamy showed his side to his personality as Wales head coach on Tuesday night.
Or was it a flashback to his old self?
Wales were losing at home to Northern Ireland in a friendly, and Bellamy was not happy with his team's first-half performance.
For the first time since taking charge in 2024, he let rip. Slamming tables, raising his voice, Bellamy erupted in front of his players.
CRAIG BELLAMY:
"It was the first half-time I had to go in and really go," he said. "My hand's still hurting from hitting the table.”
"We cannot be that. I can accept a poor performance with the ball and mistakes are never a problem. But winning duels, winning second balls, coming back together, that to me means the most.
"Did I get them ready enough? Because I thought I did before and the messaging of 'We can't waste games' and 'Average teams have excuses'.”
“ I don't believe we're an average team, but our behaviour was. We wasted a half."
Wales held to flat friendly draw by Northern Ireland.”
Centre-back Joe Rodon said it was the first time this Wales team had seen Bellamy in such a rage.
For anyone who followed the 46-year-old as a player, it would come as no surprise. The former Liverpool and Manchester City forward courted controversy on and off the field over the course of a career packed with notable achievements but several flashpoints too.
As much as Bellamy might have mellowed as a coach, his half-time tirade demonstrated that his fiery temper is still in there somewhere.
And frankly, the game was so insipid that it needed something – or someone – to liven it up.
This, after all, was not how Wales had imagined Tuesday would play out.
This was meant to be another of those famous nights under the Cardiff City Stadium lights, with a place at the World Cup on the line.
Instead, what Wales got was a friendly against Northern Ireland. At home, yes, but not the game they wanted. In fact, it was a match nobody wanted.
Having lost their World Cup play-off semi-finals against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy respectively five days earlier, given the choice, Wales and Northern Ireland would probably have had the night off to wallow.
Or at least that was the option a large number of fans appeared to have opted for, judging by the empty seats.
The match had been a sell-out in terms of tickets sold, with Wales fans encouraged to buy in advance to guarantee their place in the event of a play-off final against Italy.
Given the gut-wrenching nature of their penalty shootout defeat against Bosnia, it was understandable that many of them couldn't stomach this fixture.
Northern Ireland supporters, meanwhile, had been offered refunds by their association, who sensed the lack of appetite, even if their defeat in Italy had been less of a sickener.
Still, it could have been worse. When these sides met in the short-lived Nations Cup 15 years ago, only 530 people turned up at Dublin's cavernous Aviva Stadium to watch a Wales side featuring Bellamy win 2-0.
The sense of apathy did not reach those depths at Cardiff City Stadium, which was still close to three-quarters full, but it was undoubtedly flat.
Or was it a flashback to his old self?
Wales were losing at home to Northern Ireland in a friendly, and Bellamy was not happy with his team's first-half performance.
For the first time since taking charge in 2024, he let rip. Slamming tables, raising his voice, Bellamy erupted in front of his players.
CRAIG BELLAMY:
"It was the first half-time I had to go in and really go," he said. "My hand's still hurting from hitting the table.”
"We cannot be that. I can accept a poor performance with the ball and mistakes are never a problem. But winning duels, winning second balls, coming back together, that to me means the most.
"Did I get them ready enough? Because I thought I did before and the messaging of 'We can't waste games' and 'Average teams have excuses'.”
“ I don't believe we're an average team, but our behaviour was. We wasted a half."
Wales held to flat friendly draw by Northern Ireland.”
Centre-back Joe Rodon said it was the first time this Wales team had seen Bellamy in such a rage.
For anyone who followed the 46-year-old as a player, it would come as no surprise. The former Liverpool and Manchester City forward courted controversy on and off the field over the course of a career packed with notable achievements but several flashpoints too.
As much as Bellamy might have mellowed as a coach, his half-time tirade demonstrated that his fiery temper is still in there somewhere.
And frankly, the game was so insipid that it needed something – or someone – to liven it up.
This, after all, was not how Wales had imagined Tuesday would play out.
This was meant to be another of those famous nights under the Cardiff City Stadium lights, with a place at the World Cup on the line.
Instead, what Wales got was a friendly against Northern Ireland. At home, yes, but not the game they wanted. In fact, it was a match nobody wanted.
Having lost their World Cup play-off semi-finals against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy respectively five days earlier, given the choice, Wales and Northern Ireland would probably have had the night off to wallow.
Or at least that was the option a large number of fans appeared to have opted for, judging by the empty seats.
The match had been a sell-out in terms of tickets sold, with Wales fans encouraged to buy in advance to guarantee their place in the event of a play-off final against Italy.
Given the gut-wrenching nature of their penalty shootout defeat against Bosnia, it was understandable that many of them couldn't stomach this fixture.
Northern Ireland supporters, meanwhile, had been offered refunds by their association, who sensed the lack of appetite, even if their defeat in Italy had been less of a sickener.
Still, it could have been worse. When these sides met in the short-lived Nations Cup 15 years ago, only 530 people turned up at Dublin's cavernous Aviva Stadium to watch a Wales side featuring Bellamy win 2-0.
The sense of apathy did not reach those depths at Cardiff City Stadium, which was still close to three-quarters full, but it was undoubtedly flat.
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Re: Craig Bellamy Shows his old self as he loses it last nig
Wed Apr 01, 2026 11:37 am
For me a manager with passion like that is a must . My kind of changing room .
I guess it’s old school but I think it’s great .
I guess it’s old school but I think it’s great .
Re: Craig Bellamy Shows his old self as he loses it last nig
Wed Apr 01, 2026 12:25 pm
TaxiBlue wrote:For me a manager with passion like that is a must . My kind of changing room .
I guess it’s old school but I think it’s great .
That’s fine, but there needs to be an allowance for a squad that had been so deflated only a few days before and asked to ‘give their all’ in a (relatively) nothing game
Players will naturally not been in an overly competitive mindset and maybe had an eye on getting back to the normality of their club life
That Dylan Lawlor came off injured in such a game after showing signs of it against Bosnia, it just further questions to the point/purpose of playing this game after a deflating defeat
Re: Craig Bellamy Shows his old self as he loses it last nig
Wed Apr 01, 2026 1:09 pm
I don't blame him going nuts,doesn't matter about the result last week,fans had paid good money and made the effort to go to a game that had nothing on it,plus there were players starting last night who ha a chance to put their hands up for a place in future Wales international matches. They are professional footballers who get paid good money to play and regardless of how important the game is they should be proud to play for their country. I bet there were plenty of fans who left the ground in tears last week,but still turned up again last night. I say good on Bellers for showing a bit of passion,it obviously worked as we got off to a cracking start to the 2nd half but we just couldn't find a winner.
Re: Craig Bellamy Shows his old self as he loses it last nig
Wed Apr 01, 2026 11:34 pm
avondaleblue wrote:I don't blame him going nuts,doesn't matter about the result last week,fans had paid good money and made the effort to go to a game that had nothing on it,plus there were players starting last night who ha a chance to put their hands up for a place in future Wales international matches. They are professional footballers who get paid good money to play and regardless of how important the game is they should be proud to play for their country. I bet there were plenty of fans who left the ground in tears last week,but still turned up again last night. I say good on Bellers for showing a bit of passion,it obviously worked as we got off to a cracking start to the 2nd half but we just couldn't find a winner.
27k tickets sold for the game, according to attendance figures, but the reality was a c.20k turned up
I agree those attending deserved a ‘performance’ but human mentality seems to have had an effect and there was an improvement after Craig got his golf clubs out at half-time!
