Just what is it with Craig Bellamy?
I'm sure that this ilicited many a response already - most of which I imagine are not positive.
Putting 'character issues' aside for one moment (and there have been plenty) which have seen him bounce around from over the past ten years, but what is it that Bellamy has that has made a number of top managers shell out approximately £30 million for him during his career?
Mark Hughes was particularly effusive today following his signing, saying:
"I am delighted to be working with Craig once more.All of this is no doubt true, given that it is coming from a manager who probably knows him best and there is no doubt that our current style of play will afford him the chance to score plenty of goals, and it is his pace that I imagine Hughes will be most looking to utilise when he gets him in the line-up."He is an outstanding player who provides us with qualities that we are slightly lacking.
"He has blistering pace, has bags of of enthusiasm and has a superb attitude to training. He will be a great addition to the squad."
A cursory look at his record suggests he will return a decent goals to game ratio at the very least:
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1996–2000 2000–2001 2001–2005 2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2009 2009– | Norwich City Coventry City Newcastle United → Celtic (loan) Blackburn Rovers Liverpool West Ham United Manchester City | 84 (32) 34 (6) 93 (28) 12 (7) 27 (13) 27 (7) 24 (7) 0 (0) |
It is a decent enough record given that he has tended to play on the fringes of a strike partnership with him being most productive under Hughes at Blackburn.
Bellamy himself appears to be happy with the move (although there are echoes of previous statements I have seen from him):
I still find it difficult to see quite how he fits into our formation - something I will follow with interest, as I don't believe he has ever had much success as a lone striker and surely we would benefit far greater from a striker with a real presence to lead the line."They (Hughes and his coaching team) know me better than anybody-else in the football game, and they are people I completely trust in.
"They have progressed me massively, and I owe them a lot. The added bonus is that it's Manchester City and the way it is going at the moment with possibly one or two more players coming in over the top of me.
"I'm fortunate that this opportunity has come along, and I am grateful. I feel I am at my peak and I hope over the next few years to perform really well here."
Bellamy does have qualities, his record proves that. However it is his less than stellar qualities - which overshadow certain positives and tend to precursor anything that he does and it will no doubt take a great deal of work (and goals of course) for him to overcome the cloud that follows him around.
More on Bellamy:
5 comments:
He is a good player and people will always take a chance on a good player. Hughes knows him well so hopefully we won't get any off field nonsense. Supposedly he is actually pretty good for a dressing room most of the time, galvanising his team mates (I know that sounds difficult to believe). We need to give him a chance and see how HUghes fits him in. He is likely to improve us in the short term and significant movement up the league over the next few months would make a huge difference when it comes to transfers in the Summer.
He is another Dummy thorwer, and when the going gets tough he will get vocal, upset the team, upset the fans and move on to Spurs, as he is running out of teams he has n ot played for.
Right i have to say disappointed with this signing but if i was to look for positives the way we attack his pace may fit right in also for a small lad he will fight for you and is strong, these r thr type of signings hughes will sink or swim with.
The problem is he won't like being a squad player, and let's face it, whether he's good or not, the man is clearly an utter ****
I believe those figures for Bellamy's playing statistics are taken from Wikipedia. As a frequent Wikipedia user I should add a footnote for those who don't know that the asterisk by Pld(Gls) carries a footnote that it only records league games and goals. When cup games and such are added, the goal tally often tips more favourably to some players. Can't say how this would affect Bellamy though, don't know enough about him.
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