Dribble
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...s-of-controversial-striker-Craig-Bellamy.html
Craig Bellamy has laid bare his public feud with Roberto Mancini and insisted he will refuse to take a pay-cut to leave Manchester City, despite claiming he has not spoken to the Italian for almost 18 months.
The 31 year-old, who is expected to be left behind when City’s first-team squad fly to Los Angeles for pre-season training on Friday, has delivered a withering criticism of Mancini’s management style and refusal to accept the full extent of his fitness requirements in a wide-ranging interview covering the Welshman’s career, on and off the pitch.
Bellamy’s fractious relationship with Mancini resulted in the former Newcastle and Liverpool forward spending last season on loan at home-town club Cardiff City.
However, having returned to Eastlands ahead of the new season, Bellamy has warned that he has no intention of reducing his £80,000-a-week wages in order to cut short his stay at City, where his contract expires next summer.
“No chance, that is impossible,” Bellamy said. “Because I have my own academy [in Sierra Leone) where I have to take care of 13 children, day in, day out. My wages are more important to them, than they are for me. Manchester City is the richest club in the world. They work to a budget that no one else works to, so they can write their own rules. Right now, the club has got itself in a situation where a lot of players have to go on loan.”
Bellamy has been told City have no interest in another loan transfer, but there have been few takers so far in terms of a permanent deal for the player.
“To be honest, I do not want to go on loan again, because where would I go after that?” Bellamy said. “After another loan period my options would be probably reduced.
“A permanent move would be the best, but it would have to be somewhere wealthy, so I can guarantee future earnings for my charity, but that would be difficult with my current wages.
“If they [City] pay me my final year of my wages, then I’m sure I can go wherever I want. In that case, my first option would be Cardiff, to give it another go. But is has to be feasible, the financial health of the club is the most important thing.
“Obviously it all depends on Manchester City. At present, I expect to go back there and stay the whole year. And if Mancini is still there, I’ll do probably very little, obviously I won’t be involved with him and the first team.”
Having being lured to City by former manager Mark Hughes, Bellamy claims his career at the club nosedived within days of the Italian being installed as Hughes’ successor in Dec 2009.
Bellamy had been allowed to adhere to a personalised training regime under Hughes in order to protect long-term knee problems, but the players claims that Mancini refused to allow it to continue.
“It was tough [when Hughes left], it was like losing someone.” Bellamy said. “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 totally different structure which affected me completely. Mancini told me to stay with the team all the time. We had longer training sessions, but with no intensity whatsoever.
“He seemed to know my knee better than I knew it myself. He tried to explain why I had problems with it, and what I should do about it. When I told him that my knee was hurting, he tried to tell me that it wasn’t.
“Mancini wanted me to come in another day and do some work, but I told him that I’d finished my work that day, that I was keeping to my own schedule.
“That was when he started about my programme, that I couldn’t follow my own schedule while he was the manager, and that I had to do what he was telling me.
“He said, ‘If you don’t, you can go back home now. And don’t come in again’. I replied, ‘OK, no problem, I’m going home then’. That was a week after he’d arrived, and then he never spoke to me again.
“When I went into pre-season, the physiotherapist Jamie Murphy spoke to Mancini and told him that I wasn’t able to do a lot of the things that Mancini wanted, because it would cause a reaction in my knee. Mancini wants to have it all.”
Bellamy then added: “I went away to the pre-season tour in America, trained with the squad, but my knee blew up, and it became more swollen than it has ever been.
“I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t have turned around and said, ‘Look, I’m not training’. Because then they would have said that I refused to train and that I didn’t want to be there. The same old rubbish, so I forced myself to train even more.”
Bellamy, who has admitted to a desire to become a manager, claimed former Newcastle manager Sir Bobby Robson was a master of man-management during the Welshman’s time on Tyneside, recalling how Robson resolved a bust-up between the player and coach John Carver at Newcastle airport prior to a flight to Majorca.
“I wasn’t interested in going to Majorca any more,” said Bellamy. “Then Robson came over, and told me to walk with him, just the two of us on our own.
“As we were walking, he never once spoke about what just had happened. He was just asking how my children were, how they were doing at school and how my wife was.
“The next thing I know I was in the plane going up in the air. Clever man, see? That night Robson came to my hotel room, together with Carver and Alan Shearer.
"I was still angry about what happened, so I was ready to argue with anyone. Robson diffused it, by blaming Carver, and made him apologise. In the end, I couldn’t even argue, I had to agree with everything he said.”
Although it was quickly resolved, the incident equally swiftly became infamous because Bellamy had allegedly thrown a chair at Carver at the airport.
“I wouldn’t comment on that, ha ha!” Bellamy said. “But it didn’t go anywhere near him!”
When attempts were made to contact Manchester City on Thursday night, a spokesman was unavailable to comment on Bellamy’s claims.
The quicker this despicable character leaves, the better for Manchester City. Irrespective of what has gone on, Mancini was proved ultimately correct by doing it his way. We cannot allow the tail to wag the dog..... are you listening Captain Caveman!!!
Craig Bellamy has laid bare his public feud with Roberto Mancini and insisted he will refuse to take a pay-cut to leave Manchester City, despite claiming he has not spoken to the Italian for almost 18 months.
The 31 year-old, who is expected to be left behind when City’s first-team squad fly to Los Angeles for pre-season training on Friday, has delivered a withering criticism of Mancini’s management style and refusal to accept the full extent of his fitness requirements in a wide-ranging interview covering the Welshman’s career, on and off the pitch.
Bellamy’s fractious relationship with Mancini resulted in the former Newcastle and Liverpool forward spending last season on loan at home-town club Cardiff City.
However, having returned to Eastlands ahead of the new season, Bellamy has warned that he has no intention of reducing his £80,000-a-week wages in order to cut short his stay at City, where his contract expires next summer.
“No chance, that is impossible,” Bellamy said. “Because I have my own academy [in Sierra Leone) where I have to take care of 13 children, day in, day out. My wages are more important to them, than they are for me. Manchester City is the richest club in the world. They work to a budget that no one else works to, so they can write their own rules. Right now, the club has got itself in a situation where a lot of players have to go on loan.”
Bellamy has been told City have no interest in another loan transfer, but there have been few takers so far in terms of a permanent deal for the player.
“To be honest, I do not want to go on loan again, because where would I go after that?” Bellamy said. “After another loan period my options would be probably reduced.
“A permanent move would be the best, but it would have to be somewhere wealthy, so I can guarantee future earnings for my charity, but that would be difficult with my current wages.
“If they [City] pay me my final year of my wages, then I’m sure I can go wherever I want. In that case, my first option would be Cardiff, to give it another go. But is has to be feasible, the financial health of the club is the most important thing.
“Obviously it all depends on Manchester City. At present, I expect to go back there and stay the whole year. And if Mancini is still there, I’ll do probably very little, obviously I won’t be involved with him and the first team.”
Having being lured to City by former manager Mark Hughes, Bellamy claims his career at the club nosedived within days of the Italian being installed as Hughes’ successor in Dec 2009.
Bellamy had been allowed to adhere to a personalised training regime under Hughes in order to protect long-term knee problems, but the players claims that Mancini refused to allow it to continue.
“It was tough [when Hughes left], it was like losing someone.” Bellamy said. “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 totally different structure which affected me completely. Mancini told me to stay with the team all the time. We had longer training sessions, but with no intensity whatsoever.
“He seemed to know my knee better than I knew it myself. He tried to explain why I had problems with it, and what I should do about it. When I told him that my knee was hurting, he tried to tell me that it wasn’t.
“Mancini wanted me to come in another day and do some work, but I told him that I’d finished my work that day, that I was keeping to my own schedule.
“That was when he started about my programme, that I couldn’t follow my own schedule while he was the manager, and that I had to do what he was telling me.
“He said, ‘If you don’t, you can go back home now. And don’t come in again’. I replied, ‘OK, no problem, I’m going home then’. That was a week after he’d arrived, and then he never spoke to me again.
“When I went into pre-season, the physiotherapist Jamie Murphy spoke to Mancini and told him that I wasn’t able to do a lot of the things that Mancini wanted, because it would cause a reaction in my knee. Mancini wants to have it all.”
Bellamy then added: “I went away to the pre-season tour in America, trained with the squad, but my knee blew up, and it became more swollen than it has ever been.
“I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t have turned around and said, ‘Look, I’m not training’. Because then they would have said that I refused to train and that I didn’t want to be there. The same old rubbish, so I forced myself to train even more.”
Bellamy, who has admitted to a desire to become a manager, claimed former Newcastle manager Sir Bobby Robson was a master of man-management during the Welshman’s time on Tyneside, recalling how Robson resolved a bust-up between the player and coach John Carver at Newcastle airport prior to a flight to Majorca.
“I wasn’t interested in going to Majorca any more,” said Bellamy. “Then Robson came over, and told me to walk with him, just the two of us on our own.
“As we were walking, he never once spoke about what just had happened. He was just asking how my children were, how they were doing at school and how my wife was.
“The next thing I know I was in the plane going up in the air. Clever man, see? That night Robson came to my hotel room, together with Carver and Alan Shearer.
"I was still angry about what happened, so I was ready to argue with anyone. Robson diffused it, by blaming Carver, and made him apologise. In the end, I couldn’t even argue, I had to agree with everything he said.”
Although it was quickly resolved, the incident equally swiftly became infamous because Bellamy had allegedly thrown a chair at Carver at the airport.
“I wouldn’t comment on that, ha ha!” Bellamy said. “But it didn’t go anywhere near him!”
When attempts were made to contact Manchester City on Thursday night, a spokesman was unavailable to comment on Bellamy’s claims.
The quicker this despicable character leaves, the better for Manchester City. Irrespective of what has gone on, Mancini was proved ultimately correct by doing it his way. We cannot allow the tail to wag the dog..... are you listening Captain Caveman!!!