[Archived] Bellamy

[philipl]

Craig sets up the Bellamy Football Academy in Sierra Leone

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

Craig sets up the Bellamy Football Academy in Sierra Leone

From the article, Bellamy says: "They haven't been thrown a football, they've been thrown a gun."

Sounds rather like Moss Side, Brixton and Toxteth - why does Bellamy need to go all the way to Africa?

Perhaps Bellamy will be advising those lovely African kids to bash each other with golf clubs instead of guns. Or maybe Bellamy will be telling them to throw a chair at people instead, as he did to the Newcastle coach John Carver in 2004.

Will Bellamy be advising the African kids to invent fake injuries to avoid playing in matches where they might be out of position, as Craig did when he invented a fake hamstring injury to avoid playing on the right-hand side of midfield for Newcastle.

One can imagine that Bellamy's agent has been advising him to invent a new image for himself to gain more sponsorship opportunities in the future. But no amount of spin and propaganda from Bellamy about this new academy in Sierra Leone can alter the fact that he's an odious creature and a dreadful role-model for youngsters.

[Grabbi Graeme]

Oh give it rest AESF, fact is that he had trouble at various clubs before he joined us, but while he was at Blackburn there was no trouble because Hughes knew how to control him.

I don't care that he threw a chair at John Carver, maybe Carver deserved it but I wouldnt know because I wasn't there and neither were you, your just going off what you read as usual, he scorerd goals while he was at Rovers and that is what he was bought for and that was the only thing fans would be bothered about.

[S15]

One can imagine that Bellamy's agent has been advising him to invent a new image for himself to gain more sponsorship opportunities in the future. But no amount of spin and propaganda from Bellamy about this new academy in Sierra Leone can alter the fact that he's an odious creature and a dreadful role-model for youngsters.

Oh come on AESF.

Yes Bellamy has made some nasty mistakes in the past, I always felt he had more a bad bout of schizophrenia rather than just being a genuine harrible person.

I can't for the life of me see how Bellamy can gain anything out of donating/giving his own cash combined with constant liaison/visits to Africa other than a bit of self riteousness. I'm sure you'd find opening your own Football Academy isn't as simple as signing on for the course and going along for the ride.

[thenodrog]

I can't for the life of me see how Bellamy can gain anything out of donating/giving his own cash combined with constant liaison/visits to Africa other than a bit of self riteousness.

"I'm not looking to find and sell players. I'm not an agent. I want to make it clear that if any player does make it, any fee goes straight back into the academy."

errr less 'costs' of course.

How naive you must be Shillitoe. I'd be suprised if Craig Bellamy could find his arse using both hands never mind Sierra Leone on a map of the world! This will be an 'investment' to utilise his wealth now by searching to sign up 'cheap' talent for the day he hangs his boots up. It will have been dreamed up by his management team using him as front man and by lightly greasing the palm of some London based embassy official. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course.

[ABBEY]

why not invest in finding local talent in the poor parts of the uk?

[thenodrog]

why not invest in finding local talent in the poor parts of the uk?

Too expensive here Abbs and anyway any such kids are usually signed up by the time they are 9 or 10. I rem my lad playing against a team from Liverpool 8 years ago. There was a 10 year old kid from there whose parents were alledgedly paid 10k expenses pa (then) to take him to training and matches with Lpool FC.

[joey_big_nose]

Why not give him the benefit of the doubt.

He is the sort of individual who I could see giving a large amount of money to charity. Not out of benevolence per se but because charity is a laudable thing and he wants to be more laudable than anyone else. Another aspect of his all consuming competitiveness. I am sure he would get a lot of pelasure out of the fact that everybody views him as being self centred and violent yet he is committing a far larger proportion of his wealth than anyone else to worthy causes.

Nothing wrong with that. Much better to be a man who helps another in order to glorify themself than to be someone who won't help anyone at all which is where most people are.

The whole thing about how if you give money to charity you are not supposed to tell anyone about it baffles me. Its a good deed. You should be proud of tellling people. People should be impressed by it.

[thenodrog]

Why not give him the benefit of the doubt.

He is the sort of individual who I could see giving a large amount of money to charity. Not out of benevolence per se but because charity is a laudable thing and he wants to be more laudable than anyone else. Another aspect of his all consuming competitiveness. I am sure he would get a lot of pelasure out of the fact that everybody views him as being self centred and violent yet he is committing a far larger proportion of his wealth than anyone else to worthy causes.

Nothing wrong with that. Much better to be a man who helps another in order to glorify themself than to be someone who won't help anyone at all which is where most people are.

The whole thing about how if you give money to charity you are not supposed to tell anyone about it baffles me. Its a good deed. You should be proud of tellling people. People should be impressed by it.

Oh aye........ and pigs might fly too JBN.

[T4E]

From the article, Bellamy says: "They haven't been thrown a football, they've been thrown a gun."

Sounds rather like Moss Side, Brixton and Toxteth - why does Bellamy need to go all the way to Africa?

Perhaps Bellamy will be advising those lovely African kids to bash each other with golf clubs instead of guns. Or maybe Bellamy will be telling them to throw a chair at people instead, as he did to the Newcastle coach John Carver in 2004.

Will Bellamy be advising the African kids to invent fake injuries to avoid playing in matches where they might be out of position, as Craig did when he invented a fake hamstring injury to avoid playing on the right-hand side of midfield for Newcastle.

One can imagine that Bellamy's agent has been advising him to invent a new image for himself to gain more sponsorship opportunities in the future. But no amount of spin and propaganda from Bellamy about this new academy in Sierra Leone can alter the fact that he's an odious creature and a dreadful role-model for youngsters.

Is it cos they is black?

[S15]

"I'm not looking to find and sell players. I'm not an agent. I want to make it clear that if any player does make it, any fee goes straight back into the academy."

errr less 'costs' of course.

How naive you must be Shillitoe. I'd be suprised if Craig Bellamy could find his arse using both hands never mind Sierra Leone on a map of the world! This will be an 'investment' to utilise his wealth now by searching to sign up 'cheap' talent for the day he hangs his boots up. It will have been dreamed up by his management team using him as front man and by lightly greasing the palm of some London based embassy official. Not that there is anything wrong with that of course.

Pretty detailed subjective comment.

I'm happy to go with my original thoughts until presented with something which may suggest otherwise. I think it's strange you can say he could never find Sierra Leone on a map of the world, when the bloke is probably many times more travelled than yourself.

If sure his career has taken him to many less well off nations, and perhaps on one of these ventures something just so happened to touch that cold black heart of his.

I've no idea one way or another, but I can't for the life of me see how he can be critized whatever his reasons.

[Grabbi Graeme]

Bellamy is on Century FM tonight being interviewed by Malcom Mcdonald on his dream team show , it's on at 7.30 after the legends phone in

[Anti Euro Smiths Fan]

he scored goals while he was at Rovers

Yes, he scored goals for one season for us before buggering off to Liverpool, having lied about his contract to Rovers fans.

So when he now says of the new 'Craig Bellamy Foundation' enterprise: "I want to make it clear that if any player does make it, any fee goes straight back into the academy," then personally I choose to take that with a pinch of salt, given his previous untrue statements before.

Why not give him the benefit of the doubt.

A lot of people on here gave Bellamy the benefit of the doubt when he said in February 2006: "I'm not just here for a season and then I'm going to say thanks a lot".

I can remember people on here defending Bellamy when it was suggested that there might actually be a release clause. People said: "Why should Bellamy lie?"

In an interview with the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Bellamy emphatically denied that there was a release clause in his contract, saying: "I don't think I'd be allowed to come here if that was the case. The manager we have 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."

That was a blatant lie from Bellamy. So when he's now trying to give the impression of giving £650,000 of his own money to African kids without getting any money back in return, then frankly I'm suspicious and I'd suggest that those who are not suspicious are a touch naive.

Bellamy lied about a hamstring injury he had faked to avoid playing on the right-hand side of midfield with Newcastle, he lied to Rovers fans about his release clause, also disgracefully dragging Mark Hughes's name into his lies, so those who think that Bellamy isn't capable of lying about his motives for this new academy are being a little naive in my view.

Back in February 2006, when Den posted that Bellamy was here "for the long haul", following his "No release clause" comments in the LET, many board members took Bellamy's comments at face value.

To give a few examples....

Most promising news yet regarding next seasons' squad. Great to hear how committed he is to the club, and maybe now he can become a major hit with the fans

From everything I've seen on this topic, there isn't a release clause. For me, Bellers' denial of it is too categorical. What he said about Hughes rings true for me- Sparky isn't an idiot, and he would never allow that sort of clause, especially one so low.

Its taken over 10 years, but there is a worthy successor to King Shearer. Long may he continue in our colours.

I wonder which bit of there...is.........no......clause they find difficult to understand?

It's utterly bizarre that the LET ran a prominent interview with Bellamy in which the player himself categorically denied the existence of a "clause"

Yet several months later Andy Nield runs a piece saying "it is believed" there is a clause.

So, not to put too fine a point on it, they are accusing bellamy of lying?

Yes, that's exactly what Bellamy did. He lied and a lot of fans believed his lies. So Joey Big Nose, when you say: "Why not give him the benefit of the doubt?", I think back to the time when people did indeed give him the benefit of the doubt and then ended up bitterly disappointed.

i will not tolerate being downright lied to. The little to$$er said in the LET that that clause did not exist, but it turns out he was purging himself once again.

Bellamy now says of his Sierra Leone venture: "I want to make it clear that if any player does make it, any fee goes straight back into the academy". I think it would be wise not to give him the benefit of the doubt quite so quickly this time.

Let's not forget that Alan Shearer said of Bellamy last year: "Has no one learned their lesson about him? If only Rafa Benitez had rung me, I would've told him exactly what he was like."

Shearer said that the prospect of Bellamy returning to Newcastle had him drowning his sorrows. "I was having a few days away in France with Gary Speed and I picked up a newspaper. I was having a fantastic day. But when I read Bellamy for Newcastle, I thought I would have to have another drink, so I had several."

Shearer knows Bellamy's character well - a guy who feigns injury, who whacks team-mates with golf clubs and headbutts opponents, someone who sends abusive text messages to his team-mates, assaults female students in Newcastle city centre (see the link HERE), and a guy who, as his former Coventry team-mate Steve Froggatt said, is "arrogant and obnoxious".

Some may think that Bellamy is going over to Sierra Leone with entirely good motives to get those African kids away from their guns and mud huts. But I suspect that his motives might be different. I feel Bellamy may well eventually get his money back, plus quite a bit on top as well. People should be careful of believing Bellamy's spin and propaganda at this stage.

To read again the interview with Bellamy from February 2006 in the LET, when he denied that there was a release clause in his contract, click on the link below:

Bellamy tells Rovers fans: "I'm here to stay".

[roversmum]

I took what Bellamy said at face value at the time, thinking his respect for Mark Hughes and all the hype about him being so happy at Rovers and enjoying his football at last was the truth.

I won't make that mistake again.

Mr Roversmum keeps banging on about Bellamy coming back to Rovers but I hope and pray it won't happen and I don't think Mark will make that mistake again.

Of course, he did bang in some wonderful goals for us but the respect was not there.

[S15]

To be fair AESF you produce a very good argument and make some good points, not to mention some old quotes (You dog).

I don't know enough about the project, and I don't really care to do any research to try and defend him any further. I hope his motives are pure and I hope it is a success.

And, in all honesty, I'd bloody love it if he resigned in the summer.

(Bet he wouldn't be injured all season for us)

[Tris]

I'd bloody love it if he resigned in the summer.

From West Ham or from the human race?

The latter would be great.

[American]

I know I should post this on the English topic, but it is re-signed, not resigned. Unless you want him to quit.

(Sorry, one of my major pet peeves. I've even seen journalists do it.)

[doctorryan]

And, in all honesty, I'd bloody love it if he resigned in the summer.

From West Ham or from the human race?

[Grabbi Graeme]

The result is that he came to Rovers and scored a few goals and helped our season, his departure is down to him thinking the grass was greener on the other side and the club agreed to a release fee, but he's now long gone so maybe we should comment on the players that we have now rather than slag off former players, AESF please take note.

[JC4LAB]

It was a typical top 4 club going after a player by promising Champions league., than a wantaway Bellamy..Liverpool were ruthlessly determined to get him at all costs and pulled out all the stops to get him..

[thenodrog]

Pretty detailed subjective comment.

I'm happy to go with my original thoughts until presented with something which may suggest otherwise. I think it's strange you can say he could never find Sierra Leone on a map of the world, when the bloke is probably many times more travelled than yourself.

Ever read Verne's 'Around the World in 80 days' Shillitoe?...... And they didn't have google in those days.

I'd wager Bellamy has never even booked a flight on his own.

[Bing]

Bellamy has been his usual enthusiastic self whilst in Sierra Leone...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1295445.ece

[Blue n White Rover]

Biggest mistake of his career by leaving Rovers. The trend goes on, the grass aint always greener on the other side!

Hope Bentley realises that before he goes on to ruin his career!

[Mc Love]

What a scumbag of the highest order

[Hughesy]

Such a nice fella! Stick him in a cell with Joey