Craig Bellamy: ‘I loved living in Brussels … it gave me freedom and allowed me to breathe'

The Guardian

7 hours ago

The last of Craig Bellamy's 78 Wales caps came in Brussels in October 2013 and although that 1-1 draw concluded an underwhelming World Cup qualifying campaign, the Belgian capital is where he considers his coaching career achieved liftoff. He spent a little more than two years working at Anderlecht alongside his former Manchester City teammate Vincent Kompany, first as the under-21 coach and then as Kompany's assistant, a springboard that has led him to representing his country at the King Baudouin Stadium for another qualifier, this time as a manager.
It is a city Bellamy remembers fondly, despite leaving Anderlecht in September 2021, before the end of his contract, to return to Cardiff to deal with depression after struggling being away from his family. 'I loved living in Brussels,' he says. 'It gave me a good step back. I was completely unrecognisable – no one had a clue who I was, which was nice. I enjoyed that peace.
'Even at the club, I think they had to Google or YouTube me to know who I was. It gave me freedom, it allowed me to breathe. I always wanted to go abroad. I should've done it as a player but I refused a few times. I looked back when I finished and thought: 'Maybe I should've done that.''
He lived in an apartment on Avenue Louise, a popular thoroughfare in the south of Brussels and home to boutique brands and trendy eateries, a few miles from Anderlecht, a club that has long prided itself on developing players where its motto – In Youth We Trust – is not an empty slogan. Some days he and Kompany would arrive at 7.30am and at 8pm still be moving mannequins and talking patterns under the floodlights.
He loved the back and forth, though Bellamy tells a time where he did not speak to Kompany for 'a day and a half' because he felt Kompany called up too many youngsters for his first team. Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans, both of whom will probably be playing for Belgium on Monday, and Kompany, are among the club's most celebrated alumni.
Another player likely to feature is the winger Jérémy Doku, now of City, who Bellamy first coached as a 16-year-old at Anderlecht. 'He could lose you in a phone booth,' Bellamy says. 'I have never had to apologise to so many under-21 coaches that a 17-year-old was playing – that's how good he was. It's like it wasn't fair.
'We can all spot ability, but I loved him as a person and still do. He could test you, but I loved that. He taught me more about how to be a coach than a lot of players. Because you have to understand the background they [players] are from, the culture they are from. His drive was insane, which I loved. Great kid. I played a small part, a tiny part of his development.'
He also worked with Zeno Debast, who joined Sporting Lisbon from Anderlecht last year. Bellamy rejected interest as a player from Juventus, Marseille, Valencia, Ajax and Feyenoord but, he says, his time in Belgium with Kompany gave him a priceless education in coaching, which accelerated his development as a manager.
'That was where I learned football,' he says. 'I came across so many good people. It was a very different place … different languages, you go 20 minutes there, a different language, 20 minutes there, different language, different culture, different way of doing things, different governments.
'I found that with all the players, too; players from different regions spoke different languages. They all had completely different backgrounds and that is where you learn coaching. They all have different mentalities, drives and cultures.'
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The last time Bellamy was in Belgium was two years ago for a pre-season friendly with Burnley, where he also worked as an assistant to Kompany. Connor Roberts, the dependable Wales full-back, was part of that side. After this visit, Bellamy will return for a wedding next weekend, by which point, if things go to plan, Wales will be 10 games unbeaten under the 45-year-old.
For Kompany, a return to Anderlecht as a player-coach after 11 years at City, was the first step on a journey that has taken him to Bayern Munich, where he won the Bundesliga in his first season.
Bellamy's reputation as a coach is also growing. He is a compelling orator and his house rules, so to speak, have further endeared him to supporters: no swapping shirts, for starters. Not allowing the Wales crest to touch the floor is another. Before the 3-0 victory against Liechtenstein on Friday, he referenced the 1984 film The Karate Kid. 'Does he do karate straight away? No, it's Mr Miyagi who decides. It's wax on, wax off. He paints the fence. He teaches him all these rules before he can do karate, so that he has the discipline.
'It's about basics, habits. If you don't have that intensity without the ball, if your body language is poor and you're waving your hands, it's the wrong team for you. This is not your team.'
Bellamy's final action in a Wales shirt was a typically heart-on-sleeve performance under Chris Coleman. That night a 16-year-old Harry Wilson, arguably the most important player in Bellamy's squad, entered as a substitute to become the youngest player capped by his country. Kevin De Bruyne and Lukaku remain from their opponents that day and although Belgium have won one of their past eight matches, they are eighth in the Fifa rankings and surely pose Wales's greatest threat in Group J.
Regardless of how things are going at the King Baudouin Stadium, there is one thing Bellamy will not ask of his players: feign injury to waste time, a tactic he felt North Macedonia used to their advantage in March. 'We have viewers, we have a responsibility,' he says. 'Even if I'm getting my ass kicked, I ain't doing it.'