It is a Sunday afternoon in the Cowbridge Suite of the Vale Resort on the outskirts of Cardiff, base camp for Wales, and the pre-Montenegro press conference is 23 minutes old when the last question, about playing long, is put to Craig Bellamy. Most managers would be minded to wrap things up. Then again, Bellamy is not a most managers kind of character. “I like to give you a fair fight,” he says, his words lingering for a second or two. He is only getting started, as a five-minute soliloquy provides an absorbing insight into his deep and complex psyche.
“I don’t want people coming off feeling like I did, and that’s the honest truth,” the 45-year-old says. “I want you to love this [playing for Wales], I want you to come away thinking: ‘I can’t wait to play again. It might not have been our day but I felt like I had a chance of scoring, I had so much of the ball.’ So many times when I came off it was so difficult. Against the Republic of Ireland [in 2007], I cried. I touched the ball three times. I’m at Croke Park. No one came and spoke to me and said: ‘Sorry for leaving you on your own up there [in attack].’ I never want anyone to feel that way. I believe we should give everybody a chance at being able to show their true talent.”
By this point Bellamy had already touched on the allure of Joe Allen’s return to the Wales setup. “We all love romance, no? Hopefully he kicks the ball for me [against Montenegro].” Then he moved on to expectations, not wanting to temper excitement among the supporters, and his unwavering belief in his possession-based plan. “We should enjoy this. This country over the last years has given us reasons to be optimistic. I’ve watched us in major tournaments. We got to the semi-finals with Cookie [Chris Coleman at Euro 2016], then the Euros with Pagey [Rob Page in 2021], a World Cup [in 2022], it’s been incredible for us. Now we want to keep that going. And I believe there’s a really good chance of being able to do that.”
Bellamy apologized for trailing off and talking “nonsense for 20-odd minutes” but he made a series of serious points, none more so than when discussing the dearth of options at the base of midfield. Aaron Ramsey and Ethan Ampadu are injured, Jordan James is suspended and Allen, the 34-year-old who returned to the international fold this month after retiring last year, has yet to start a game this season. Bellamy conceded starting Allen against Montenegro would be a gamble. Josh Sheehan, of League One Bolton, could partner Allen’s Swansea clubmate Oli Cooper in midfield.
“We are light in the No 6 area, and that’s through all the age groups,” Bellamy said. “We are a nation that sometimes has to be creative in what we do and sometimes that adds to your strengths. We’ve seen bigger nations than ours really struggle in that area. It’s a really important area for how we play. We just have to get on with it. I’m looking forward to seeing how one or two others get on.”
After all, these days the absences of important players – the in-form Brennan Johnson is also suspended – are not enough to dampen expectations. Ben Davies, who will captain Wales again with Ramsey missing, concedes they went “sky high” after impressing against Turkey in Bellamy’s first match. “Expectations are made off the back of what we have done in the past,” Davies says. “There was a time when Wales didn’t qualify for any major tournaments and we were probably going into campaigns expecting to get nowhere near it. We want that expectation. We don’t want a bit of luck to get to competitions. We want to push and play at the highest level. We’ve had experiences at the World Cup and the Euros and we want more.”
The challenge for Wales, Bellamy acknowledged, is finding that often elusive consistency. Wales have shone in all three of his matches in charge but in each game bright first-half displays fizzled out in the second. Wales were 2-0 up in Iceland on Friday at the interval but were, ultimately, fortunate to leave Reykjavik with a point.
“We’ve spent a number of meetings since then showing that discipline will allow you to have good habits,” Bellamy says. “Good habits allow you to be consistent. And if you’re consistent, then you can grow. We’re just in that period at the moment.”