CRAIG BELLAMY has advised Cymru captain Aaron Ramsey to avoid taking on a player-coach role at Cardiff City, cautioning that the dual responsibility is difficult to manage. Ramsey, who recently earned his UEFA A Licence, has been linked to a potential coaching position at Cardiff following the dismissal of Erol Bulut and the interim appointment of Omer Riza. However, Bellamy, the current Cymru manager, believes combining playing and coaching is not a wise move, based on his experience watching Vincent Kompany attempt the same at Anderlecht.
Speaking about his former Cymru teammate, Bellamy said, “In the future, I definitely see Aaron going into management. I think it’s starting to circle in his mind, as it usually does later on in your career. I’m quietly confident he will see that part of the game is for him. With his experience and knowledge, and his understanding of the game, I would be surprised if it wasn’t at a really high level.”
However, Bellamy expressed doubt about Ramsey juggling both roles at Cardiff this season, recalling Kompany’s struggles at Anderlecht. “I’ve seen Vincent do it and it is really difficult. That was the first time I saw it really close up. I’d not been exposed to it playing-wise,” Bellamy explained. “I’d probably not recommend it after seeing Vinny doing that at Anderlecht. I think he felt that as well and decided he was either going to carry on playing or become a manager. He chose the managerial route. It’s a difficult one.”
Ramsey, now 33, featured in Cymru’s opening Nations League matches last month, starting in the goalless home draw against Turkey and coming off the bench in the 2-1 win away at Montenegro, as Bellamy’s tenure as manager began on a positive note. Unfortunately, the former Arsenal and Juventus midfielder will miss Cymru’s upcoming fixtures—a trip to Iceland on Friday and the return match against Montenegro in Cardiff—due to a hamstring injury.
“I’m really disappointed for him that he picked up another injury. He was exceptional in the game against Turkey,” Bellamy said. “He did everything we asked of him in the role he played. The chances we created, if you look back on them, they all came from Aaron. He is a clever footballer, and he showed that during that game.”
Despite the setback, Bellamy remains optimistic about Ramsey’s involvement with the national team during this period. “He isn’t going to miss out on too much because I’ll keep him updated and I believe he might be with us in camp during this period. There will be another set of information we’ll want to feed into him over a 10-day period and another two games.”
Bellamy also spoke of his close relationship with Ramsey, highlighting the midfielder’s long-standing potential. “I speak to Aaron quite a lot and I try to involve him in tactically what we try to do. He comes down to Dragon Park (the Football Association of Wales’ training centre) to see me quite a bit and we go through certain stuff. I’ve known Aaron since he was five and I knew he was going to be a professional footballer even then, which is very rare. That allows us to have a good level of communication.”
As Ramsey focuses on his recovery, Bellamy will lead Cymru into their next set of fixtures, hoping to build on the promising start to their Nations League campaign.
