Former Liverpool striker Craig Bellamy was notoriously hot-headed during his playing days.
Involved in a number of bitter controversies and controversies during his 18-year playing career, his most famous altercation saw him infamously drunkenly swing a golf club at Reds team-mate John Arne Riise in the early hours of a training trip to the Algarve , after the two got into an argument earlier in the day.
That exchange helped end the Wales international’s first stay at Anfield after just one season, as he was sold to West Ham United in a £7.5m deal in the summer of 2007. Manager Rafa Benitez would eventually told the striker he was free to leave the club on the return flight after their 2007 Champions League final loss to AC Milan, informing Bellamy he would sign a new striker with Liverpool’s record signing Fernando Torres pushing him further down the rankings.
However, Bellamy returned to Anfield just four years later as he was re-signed by Kenny Dalglish on a free transfer from Man City. Another falling out, this time with manager Roberto Mancini, led to the Welshman being frozen out at the Etihad and opened the door to his return to the Reds.
Sacked by the Italian after a training ground dispute saw him sent home, Bellamy would spend the 2010/11 season on loan at boyhood club Cardiff City before belatedly being handed a free transfer to Liverpool on transfer deadline day in August 2011 Mr.
Yet such a switch comes after City spent the summer refusing to void his contract and was left out of the first-team squad in pre-season as he was placed among the reserves.
“Right now, I expect to go back there and stay the whole year,” Bellamy said The telegraph in July 2011, eight weeks before his eventual departure. “And if Mancini is still there, I will probably do very little. Obviously I won’t deal with him and the first team.
“It was difficult (when former manager Mark Hughes left) – it was like losing someone. It was probably as bad as losing a family member in some ways. I even struggled to eat for a few days.
“It was a completely different structure that affected me completely. Mancini told me to stay with the team all the time. We had longer training sessions, but without any intensity.
“He seemed to know my knee better than I knew it. He tried to explain to me why I had problems with him and what I should do about it. When I told him my knee hurt, he tried to tell me it wasn’t.
“Mancini wanted me to come on another day and do some work, but I told him that I had finished my work that day, that I was sticking to my own schedule. Then he started about my program that I couldn’t follow my own schedule while he was the manager – and that I had to do what he told me.
“He said, ‘If you don’t, you can go home now. And don’t come in any more.” I replied “Okay, no problem, I’m going home then.” That was a week after he arrived – and he never spoke to me again after that.
“If they pay me the last year of my salary, then I’m sure I can go wherever I want. In that case, my first option would be Cardiff.”
But while Bellamy’s record may paint a picture of a difficult character to deal with, with disagreements with his manager perhaps to be expected as a result, former team-mate Wayne Bridge’s own recollection of events points the initial breakdown in the pair’s relationship to an innocent question in training.
“I just don’t understand how when you’re in training and you’re up against dummies, we’re going to do this, this and this,” Bridge said when speaking exclusively to the Daily Star when starting the Clubhouse 5.
“I remember Bellamy asked him a question once and Bellamy was our best player at the time – and he sent him home. And Bellamy was done!
“He actually said something like, ‘What if the centre-back goes that way?'” Something like that. And he just told him “shut up and do what you’re told!”
“He just asked what would happen if something happened and didn’t answer. He thought Bellamy was disrespecting him, but he wasn’t.
“He was one of the best coaches, he was great with the kids and I think he was a bit misunderstood at times. He would work his ass off for you and I think Mancini saw it as disrespect, but it wasn’t at all. Bellamy loves the game and would put his heart and soul into it.”
Bridge continued: “Bellamy lives in the moment, he says what he has to say. I like Bellamy, he gives you everything. I’ve seen fans make fun of him and he’d say something back.
“Don’t get me wrong, he can give people a hard time, but if you’re doing your job right, he probably won’t give you a hard time.
“He was great with the kids at City. He would spend 10 minutes with the right-back at the end of training and tell him “If I do this, you have to do this”. He was really, really good. He gets more stick than he deserves.”
Man City’s loss would ultimately be Liverpool’s gain, with Bellamy enjoying a successful second spell at Anfield. Although Cardiff made a late bid to re-sign him, he couldn’t resist the lure of playing for Reds legend Dalglish.
“I grew up with Kenny Dalglish, now to be signed by him is a huge honour,” he said at the time. “This is an exciting time. When Kenny took over, watching as a fan last season, I got a buzz too and it was great to see Liverpool finish the season well.
“I’m very happy. It’s been a long few months, I had to be patient and believe that something like this could happen.”
Bellamy would end up having the last laugh over his old manager, Mancini, at one point also following his return to Anfield. Registering nine goals from 36 appearances, the striker would score the goal that booked the Reds’ place in the League Cup final at the expense of Man City, lining up in front of the Kop to earn a 2-2 draw and a 3-2 aggregate victory.
Dalglish’s side would go on to win the League Cup, which would prove to be the only major accolade of Bellamy’s English football career. Meanwhile, the Wales international also started in the FA Cup final at Wembley against Chelsea after setting up Andy Carroll’s late semi-final winner over Everton.
Bellamy will then rejoin Cardiff City this summer for personal reasons, although new manager Brendan Rodgers wants him to stay at Liverpool. He would spend two seasons with the South Wales club, helping them win promotion to the Premier League in 2013, before retiring in 2014.
Now a successful manager, the 43-year-old will return to Anfield again this year. Bellamy joined Burnley last summer as assistant manager to Vincent Kompany and helped the Clarets win promotion back to the Premier League last season by winning the Championship.
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