Bellamy interview in the Times today

[Wales-Bales]

Very interesting interview. Would love to see Bellamy as manager of Cardiff city this season. Question is have our board got the foresight to make that decision.

We'd probably be beaten to it, lots of struggling clubs will be looking for a new manager as the season progresses, and they won't fail to have noticed that he is the right sort of person to shake things up a bit.

[Bald Barry Bastad]

We'd probably be beaten to it, lots of struggling clubs will be looking for a new manager as the season progresses, and they won't fail to have noticed that he is the right sort of person to shake things up a bit.

Our loss will be someone else's gain no doubt. It would be so typical of our club to miss out. Hoping Tan and co surprise us.

[the other bob wilson]

Playing Devil's Advocate to a degree, I do think there is a tendency to look at this subject and and see it as only relating to Craig Bellamy when the truth is that the club said that they were looking into the behaviour of other members of staff at the Academy.

On the subject of Bellamy though, I feel that there should be some questioning of his claims about the "kindergarten" he saw when he first got involved with the Academy, because he was never with one as a boy at the age he was talking about.

I should say here that I'm a Bellamy fan who thinks he has the potential to be a fine manager and/or coach, but while doing that job is much the same when applying it to twenty three and thirty three years olds, there should be a world of difference between how you go about teaching eight year olds and eighteen year olds the game. It would be a truly exceptional person who was able to tick all of the right boxes in a job where the age range of players you might have to deal with could go from, say, eight to thirty eight.

I think there is some evidence that the Bellamy effect was bearing fruit with the older Academy players and it had to be a good thing that those in that age group had someone of his reputation at the club fighting their corner when it came to possible first team selection. However, while there may have been a need for more discipline at what he called a creche, I have to ask what experience Craig Bellamy has of dealing with under tens attached to professional clubs? Certainly, there was nothing from his playing career that he could draw on with that age group like he could do with those who are fourteen plus.

If it was really like a creche when he first attended an under 10s session, I would argue that it would be preferable to the modern day version with its instructions to under tens to"take skin" - I really hope this isn't a by product of the need to improve discipline.

[blue lewj]

I watched the Under 18s play the wurzels this lunchtime , one side built from the back and occasionally played some really entertaining stuff. All through the game they opted for a constructive build up while the other team were bigger, far more direct and looked to bully their opponents - the wurzels mimicking of our first team looked to have won them the game until Eli King's shot got a big deflection to earn City a 2-2 draw which I thought their patient probing style deserved.

However, you do watch these games and wonder about how can it be beneficial for the first team to play one way and, although, the Under 23s are more direct than they were, all of the age group sides play another way.

I'm not sure it makes much difference if none of them have a sniff of first team football.

They can play how they like but they're not getting any joy any time soon under the current regime.

[Wales-Bales]

Playing Devil's Advocate to a degree, I do think there is a tendency to look at this subject and and see it as only relating to Craig Bellamy when the truth is that the club said that they were looking into the behaviour of other members of staff at the Academy.

On the subject of Bellamy though, I feel that there should be some questioning of his claims about the "kindergarten" he saw when he first got involved with the Academy, because he was never with one as a boy at the age he was talking about.

I should say here that I'm a Bellamy fan who thinks he has the potential to be a fine manager and/or coach, but while doing that job is much the same when applying it to twenty three and thirty three years olds, there should be a world of difference between how you go about teaching eight year olds and eighteen year olds the game. It would be a truly exceptional person who was able to tick all of the right boxes in a job where the age range of players you might have to deal with could go from, say, eight to thirty eight.

I think there is some evidence that the Bellamy effect was bearing fruit with the older Academy players and it had to be a good thing that those in that age group had someone of his reputation at the club fighting their corner when it came to possible first team selection. However, while there may have been a need for more discipline at what he called a creche, I have to ask what experience Craig Bellamy has of dealing with under tens attached to professional clubs? Certainly, there was nothing from his playing career that he could draw on with that age group like he could do with those who are fourteen plus.

If it was really like a creche when he first attended an under 10s session, I would argue that it would be preferable to the modern day version with its instructions to under tens to"take skin" - I really hope this isn't a by product of the need to improve discipline.

I posed this question above, why are professional football clubs getting involved with 5 and 10 year old children, and having seasoned hardcore professionals interacting with them? The coaches dealing with these age-groups need to have a totally different mindset. Regarding the older lads, you can join the army at 16, get treated like shit, and then go off and kill people. 18 year-old olds trying to make it in the pro game should expect a bit of discipline and character building, otherwise they are never going to make the transition into their dream job. In short, you can not view every situation through the same pair of goggles.