As Craig Bellamy endured an unbeaten time in charge of the national side at the back end of the year, since he took over from Rob Page, what does the manager need to work on ahead of a busy 2025?
We’re looking at some areas where the boss could look to improve on.
We’re looking at some areas where the boss could look to improve on.
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00:00Charles, since Craig Bellamy has been appointed as the new Wales manager, it's fair to say
00:06things have taken a bit of an upturn for the Welsh national team. Certainly during the
00:11last days of Rob Page's tenure, things weren't brilliant. It's fair to say, you know, missing
00:17out on the European Championships and overall there's just a bit of a nasty feel about the
00:23whole international set-up at Wales and despite Rob Page having taken them to their first
00:28World Cup in, you know, many, many years, it just all started to go a little bit sour
00:32and the project that had been ongoing for Wales for so many years now had started to
00:36become a little bit stale, but it's fair to say that under Craig Bellamy have improved
00:40again I think it's fair to say. And so, building on that though, what needs to happen next
00:46from Bellamy and the rest of his squad to make sure that Wales qualify for the World
00:50Cup in 2026, if that is possible, and overall just keep building as a nation to get back
00:56to where they perhaps were under the likes of Chris Coleman.
00:59Yeah, of course, it's a massive job for Bellamy. I mean, he deserves so much credit coming
01:05into this side and really making a huge difference. Obviously, going unbeaten in 2024 as a manager
01:12was massive for him, massive for confidence. I think stuff like that really, really does
01:17get players involved. It gets, you know, maybe old players who slightly drop down the pecking
01:22order, they want to maybe get involved again with the Wales set-up. There's still a lot
01:25of quality there. And, you know, it's funny how we sort of allude to Wales in qualifying
01:31for World Cups as some sort of incredible achievement. But this is where Wales are and,
01:36you know, achieving World Cup qualification should be a minimum for them as a nation.
01:40I mean, they are a fantastic footballing nation. They've produced some fantastic talents. Obviously,
01:45for the size of their country compared to their neighbours, England, it's obviously
01:50always going to be an uphill battle, but they've just been fantastic. And I think World Cup
01:54qualification needs to be a minimum for Wales. Bellarmine needs to improve on is probably
02:00my priority. And that's home advantage. That's getting them in the Cardiff night, you know,
02:06at these stadiums at home and really bringing back the atmosphere, bringing back the home
02:11advantage that Wales so dearly have, especially with rugby. And secondly, I think to look
02:17at a set squad. Now, obviously, you know, during Rob Page's time, he sort of chopped
02:22and changed quite a lot. It was quite tough to get a side that were really sticking to
02:26it. And it was quite an ageing side as well. And, you know, there was no doubt there's
02:30some incredible players coming through, more notably at Leeds in the Championship.
02:35The ambitions that Bellarmine set into coming in are really high and the expectations are
02:40high. But I think to be a top class manager and be an amazing manager at a national level,
02:45you do need an identity. You do need ideas and a style, especially in this modern game.
02:50And it should be an incredible year for Welsh football and the fans can really look at it
02:55with some marked positivity.