[Archived] Bellamy

[Eddie]

There really was no reason to lie like that. I don't care and I don't wish him well, but it was stupid.

[BRFC4EVA]

I don't want to get into a debate as to who has travelled and paid most watching Rovers, but let's just say that you are out of your depth.

I think you need to learn to take anything said by footballers and agents with a pinch of salt.

Thats the point i was trying to make, as you are obviously someone who has done all the miles and spent all the money. And yes i know footballers talk a load of rubbish as do agents do etc. However, i cant remember someone lieing quite so obviously about something like that, when he said the comments he knew full well he was lieing through his teeth. A bit different imo to the usual going against someones word or having a change of heart.

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Craig Belly-Liar

In the novel Billy Liar, a young man living in a humdrum Yorkshire town tells porkie pies to everyone he comes across. Craig Bellamy has a similar aversion to the truth. Asked about a release clause in his Rovers contract:

"I don't think I'd be allowed to come here if that was the case. The manager we have here wouldn't allow that. I couldn't have mentioned that when we were negotiating, even if I'd wanted to, because he's not into that."

He lied.

"I'm not just here for a season and then I'm going to say 'thanks a lot'."

He lied.

"I'm not using Blackburn Rovers as a stepping stone. I knew that if I was coming here then I had to give it a real go and make sure I was fully committed to being here."

He lied.

We've been here before of course. Just a few weeks before Barry Fergsuson demanded a transfer and refused to pull on the Rovers shirt against Cardiff in the FA Cup, he said:

"I'm extremely happy at Blackburn Rovers and definitely want to stay."

He lied too.

Don't these lying players feel any sense of embarrassment or guilt about telling blatant lies to the supporters?

They don't care.

Don't these players have an inch of compassion or feeling towards the fans who, in some cases, travel hundreds of miles to see their team play? Do they have any feelings at all, for example, towards the kids who have bought shirts with "BELLAMY" and "FERGUSON" on the back - the youngsters having been told that the players were "fully committed to the club".

They don't care.

Do they not have any sense of loyalty?

None whatsoever. They don't care.

The only loyalty they have is to their bank balance. They couldn't give a stuff about the supporters.

Before Craig Bellamy signed for Rovers, I said that I didn't doubt his ability - I thought he was a very talented player - but I had serious doubts about his character off the pitch. Subsequent events haven't altered my opinion at all. I think some fans on here are being remarkably tolerant towards a player who lied to supporters in the way he did.

"He had to lie about his contract," say some. Rubbish! Nobody forced Craig Bellamy into doing that interview with the LET. It was his decision. Nobody forced him to tell a pack of lies. The official line from Rovers about a release clause in his contract was "No comment." Craig Bellamy could have easily adopted the same line as Rovers, rather than lying about it.

I fell in love with the beautiful game when I was five years old. Back then, when I was a wide-eyed youngster at primary school, I naively thought of footballers as "heroes". Later comes the realisation just what a bunch of greedy selfish lying parasites they are.

I like the blind optimism on here regarding this 'clause' issue. I think it is pretty obvious that there is one in his contract.

I refuse to post this link, ever again.

You got a bit angry nine days ago Den when someone suggested that there was a clause in Bellamy's contract. You provided again the link to Bellamy's interview in which he told a pack of lies.

I don't blame you Den if you believed the words that Bellamy came out with. I think I'm right in saying that you're a gentleman above the age of 60 - in which case you grew up as a youngster in a rather more dignified and civilised era, when players like Jimmy Armfield and Bobby Moore were happy to stay with one club throughout their career. They were loyal to their clubs and didn't spit on the supporters who paid their wages.

I'm from a slightly younger generation in which footballers are greedy selfish yobs who are quite happy to treat supporters with contempt.

A sad situation - but it's a fact of life like the birds and the bees....

Although I've been enjoying some of the recent World Cup matches, I feel sick to the pit of my stomach the way that football has descended into an orgy of greed and selfishness. Players can pull all the strings now. The Bosman case has made things much worse. Bloody Europeans....

Goodbye Craig Belly-Liar.

[Oklahoma]

I don't care abpout being linked to them. I just want to know when they sign.

So, for all we know, Hughes is doing his job to get new strikers.

[mjs]

I am obviously different to you in that it doesn't really bother me that he did lie, because things change very quickly in football anyway.

All I want Rovers players to do is give it everything on the pitch, and Bellamy did that.

[percy]

Although I've been enjoying some of the recent World Cup matches, I feel sick to the pit of my stomach the way that football has descended into an orgy of greed and selfishness. Players can pull all the strings now. The Bosman case has made things much worse. Bloody Europeans....

Well done, you're catching up. Football's only been like this for a good few years now.

I seem to remember Robbie Savage telling a few porkies to help engineer a move to Rovers not so long ago (the whole moving closer to his parents affair), but we weren't complaining then were we? This was only just after he'd signed a brand new contract too.

Those bloody Welsh eh ?

[roverich]

I don't care abpout being linked to them. I just want to know when they sign.

So, for all we know, Hughes is doing his job to get new strikers.

Well you've got more confidence than me and now we need to bring in TWO proven European strikers! Think we do with our budget? You're as deluded as Bellamy is a liar!

[percy]

Well you've got more confidence than me and now we need to bring in TWO proven European strikers! Think we do with our budget? You're as deluded as Bellamy is honest!

No, we need to bring in two decent strikers who will make an impact in the Premiership. European experience has nothing to do with it - it'd just be a bonus. The main difficulty will be adapting the team to make sure we can provide the service they'll need to make it happen, rather than having the benefit of a hugely gifted footballer like Bellamy.

When we needed defensive experience to avoid relegation we brought in Nelsen and Mokoena, neither of whom had Premiership experince - both of whom were superb and played a massive part in us staying up. Darrren Bent managed quite well for Charlton last season too, so bringing in a relatively unknown player can be successful.

Bellamy wasn't very honest, so it's likely Oklahoma isn't too deluded either. He probably just has some faith in Hughes to get it right, like he has done ever since he was appointed manager. Why don't you wait until early August and see how we are then before throwing your toys out of the pram?

[DudeAbides]

Thats the point i was trying to make, as you are obviously someone who has done all the miles and spent all the money. And yes i know footballers talk a load of rubbish as do agents do etc. However, i cant remember someone lieing quite so obviously about something like that, when he said the comments he knew full well he was lieing through his teeth. A bit different imo to the usual going against someones word or having a change of heart.

If i remember rightly wasnt he lying at Newcastle also, hence the reason Souness decided he must go ???

BILLY LIAR

[Oklahoma]

Well you've got more confidence than me and now we need to bring in TWO proven European strikers! Think we do with our budget? You're as deluded as Bellamy is a liar!

Yes, I trust Hughes.

Can't really complain of his work.

And if someone asked me a year ago if I wanted Bellamy in the terms that we had him, I would say yes. He made a good half season, made us climb some places in the table and helped to get into Europe.

Now he's leaving, it's not the end of the world.

You want two proven European strikers? Before it was all the drama with "he's not proven in the premier" whenever someone mentioned a foreign striker.

Some people mentioned JFH. Before he went to England he played in Boavista and Campomaiorense in Portugal. So much for the proven european strikers. Would you want him in Blackburn a few years ago?

[roverich]

I'm not throwing toys out of pens, I'm expressing my disappointment in the clubs clear lack of ambition despite them talking publicly and professing the opposite! Rovers are going to find themselves in a relegation dogfight if they don't replace Bellamy very very well.

[Oklahoma]

well, if we go to the premiership, we wouldn't have many chances.

But there is almost 2 months till the league starts so no need to stress.

[Texan Rover]

For God's sake, I've never sen so much damn whining about one player in my life.

Let's start with one thing: this is not Hughes' or the board's fault! Do you think they WANTED to sell him for 6mil and just decided not to ask for 10? Do you think they're colluding with Liverpool's board? The board want to win, so does Hughes, and so do all the players. Hell, so does Bellamy, I'm sure.

When a player says something like "I won't use Blackburn as a stepping stone," why do you believe him? Why do you believe that a world-class player would want to spend the rest of his career with Rovers? I'm not suggesting that it can't ever happen, only that it's exceptionally unlikely. As we all know, Rovers are not a top four club. To whomever it was that suggested that "we are just a tick behind Liverpool" or some other such rubbish, you are absolutely deluding yourself. The resources that that club has, the support, the squad... there's not a single aspect (outside of the manager) in which Blackburn can compare. So don't be a fool. Blackburn is a way station, not a destination.

Having said that, some players -- MGP, Nelson, Reid, Tugay -- are happy where they are, and we should celebrate them. The Bellamies of the world aren't for Rovers. We should be happy to get our 17 goals (and no doubt half-dozen league positions) out of him, take our Europe money and 2mil profit and smile. I don't wish him any ill will; the man wants to play football and win and make his own decisions, so he should do what makes him happy.

"BUT BELLAMY LIED." Or maybe he not. Maybe he really didn't know. Would you have preferred him to say "we'll really have to say. I've got a release clause and if Liverpool came in, I couldn't turn it down"? All that would've done is put Rovers in a terrible spot. As is he hasn't publicly agitated for a move (ala Wee Barry or Sav), nor expressed his hope to get the hell out of Blackburn for ANYWHERE as soon as possible. He's expressed his gratitude to Rovers for rescuing him from an admittedly bad spot and now tied up a deal with his favorite club. That rotten @#/?. He chose the Champions' League over the UEFA Cup! The gall! He's chosen an unbelievably strong squad where he might not play every match over an up-and-coming one where he's guaranteed a spot on the pitch. The nerve!

Bellamy didn't control the transfer fee. He surely didn't ask to include the clause after his statement to the LET. The deal's done. Trust Hughes to take the cash and make the side better, just as he's done in every other instance that he's been called upon. Quit your bellyaching and see what we put out on the pitch in August. Cripes, remember how everyone sounded the day before Bellers got here? I suppose we'll have to put up with more of that until Hughes does his next good bit of business...

[Brainfreeze]

Has it occured to anyone that when Bellamy 'lied' about his release clause, that he might have been trying to detract from it rather than drawing attention to the fact that it existed so as to deter any 'predatory' clubs with their eye on him? The subsequent comments from Bellamy in the LET interview would then appear to suggest that he didn't (at the time) feel like Blackburn Rovers were a stepping stone and he DID envisage (at the time) that he would be here for more than one season. Maybe he never thought that Liverpool would be in for him and he would have stayed at Rovers if it had been anyone else but them.

All in all, what I'm trying to say is that maybe, just maybe, he was trying to do the club a favour by denying the clause existed in the first place.

[den]

You got a bit angry nine days ago Den when someone suggested that there was a clause in Bellamy's contract. You provided again the link to Bellamy's interview in which he told a pack of lies.

I don't blame you Den if you believed the words that Bellamy came out with. I think I'm right in saying that you're a gentleman above the age of 60 - in which case you grew up as a youngster in a rather more dignified and civilised era, when players like Jimmy Armfield and Bobby Moore were happy to stay with one club throughout their career. They were loyal to their clubs and didn't spit on the supporters who paid their

AESF, for once, I agree with your post.

As for the clause in Bellamy's contract, I didn't believe it, I just didn't know. I got annoyed with a certain supporter from the north east, who decided that he DID know, even though he didn't. I was simply putting a different slant on the discussion.

"I think I'm right in saying that you're a gentleman above the age of 60" YOU CHEEKY GET, NO I'M NOT

[RevidgeBlue]

In my view we very possibly "gambled" on the side of caution.

Maybe we allowed him "the clause" tied in to a lower wage because we were worried about his fitness.

And in the hope that we would be able to persuade him to sign an improved deal if things went well.

In the event it was a "gamble" which went spectacularly wrong.

Both in terms of the fee received and our prospects on the pitch for next season. And the spectator feelgood factor.

Not having this "he wouldn't have signed without the clause" nonsense. If we realistically thought he would sign now for 65k p.w. minus a clause - surely he would have done 12 months ago!

[joey_big_nose]

Rev, that is a series of three speculations, none of which you have factual (or even circumstantial or notional) evidence for. Not exactly grounds for drawing conclusions upon the club.

Indeed the only concievable (feel free to enlighten me if you feel differently) reason for painting such a picture is to create a negative image of the club.

Give me one single piece of evidence which suggest that situation occurred as you describe it.

[modes98]

Just driven back from germany only to hear this as i get on the ferry.

Very disappointed as he is the only good striker we have and also annoyed at the low fee due to the clause.

We now need to find 2 10-15 goals a season men, which isn't easy to do but at least Ped and Reidy have signed up.

[FourLaneBlue]

Rev, that is a series of three speculations, none of which you have factual (or even circumstantial or notional) evidence for. Not exactly grounds for drawing conclusions upon the club.

Indeed the only concievable (feel free to enlighten me if you feel differently) reason for painting such a picture is to create a negative image of the club.

Give me one single piece of evidence which suggest that situation occurred as you describe it.

Of course they are speculations...Rev says "In my view we very possibly" and "maybe"...

Another speculation is one of your own that the only way Bellamy would have signed is if we gave him the clause. We won't know if Bellamy would have relented if we'd played hardball. We don't know that and frankly neither does the club, only Bellamy and his agent do and even then they may have folded or amended the clause. We don't know however as it's all speculation just like 95% of the other stuff on this board.

Although I don't agree with Rev saying that "In the event it was a "gamble" which went spectacularly wrong" because whatever else happened we are in a better position now with a Uefa Cup campaign to look forward to than we were before Bellamy signed when we worried about relegation dogfights.

Personally I think the club could have tried to engineer it but I suspect that would have let other clubs in and we could well have missed out, they were in a difficult situation. Capt K is right about it being a worrying precedent and other players may try to chance their arm and blatantly use us as a stepping stone.

I'm not as bothered about this as others...Duff leaving was far worse (not to mention Shearer) and frankly as a Rovers fan you get used to it. Bellamy is history at Rovers now...time to look to the future and who can bring in.

If (and it is a big IF I admit) we can get two good strikers we will be in a better position than we were this time last week. Two good strikers is better than one injury-prone albeit excellent frontman.

So...we move onwards...and hopefully upwards

[salothsar]

Lies or no lies he did a fantastic job for us. Regardless of statistics, I think most on here think he is a major reason for us being in Europe and therefore having much more pulling power in the transfer market.

6m seems a paltry sum now but I seem to remember most thinking the 4 or 5 we paid was pretty high given his injury record and his off field antics.

Emile Hesky come on down

[Cocker]

I went onto a liverpool forum last night to see what they were saying and I cant believe that most of them seem to be upset with the Bellemy comments. Well when I say upset it just seems to be allot of one sentence posts that consist of:-

Bellemy - Pah - we need to sign a world class striker

What is Rafa thinking of

Why do we need Bellemy when we have Fowler

He isnt worth more than 6 anyway.

Quite allot of them consist of the above but have somewhere in them - I havent seen him play much but why Rafa why?

What a bunch of idiots - They will ALL be chanting his name come October.

Anyway - case closed for me now. We have lost our best player many times before and come back from it we can dam well do it again

[bubblerrovers]

How much money have we actually made from this sale as there is no way we got him for 3.5 mill as reported. i thought it was around five with extra's if got into europe like we did? why on earth was the clause 6 million thats a joke,

[ptholt]

Seems rather odd to me that so many people find it hard to believe we had such a low clause, the reality was at the reported 3.5 - 4mill we paid we got a bargain and a damn good striker looking to resurrect himself after problems with GS and some time playing the part time leagues north of the border (just joking).

The flip side of this was he or his agent obviously saw rovers as a stepping stone to bigger and better things and did not want the club restricting his options by slapping a 20 mill price tag on his head, without the clause and low fee i dont think bellamy would ever have signed for us.

What i do find hard to believe is that MH blindly hoped this would not happen and has not had any contingency plans running, i sincerely hope he has! i also sincerely hope they dont include hartson or heskey!!!! Local portugal papers saying benny mcarthy again....

What worries me more is how were now supposed to buy two strikers and possibly a left back (lucas neil still not signed his extension and is in last 12 months of contract as far as i know and we have no experienced cover) with a reported transfer kitty of 10 million....

[philipl]

a1) £3.75m plus £750K bonuses.

a2) It was negotiated in the original agreement; it wouldn't have been triggered but for Cisse's leg break.

[salothsar]

Agree with you ptholt regarding MH being aware of the likelyhood of this happening. And also sincerely hope his plans have nothing to do with Heskey or Hartson. He's come good evertime so far, so no reason why he won't again. Unless your a bit of a pesemist like me and think he's got to make a mistake sometime.

Emile Hesky come on down