Craig Bellamy: GoodFella
My Autobiography
-
-
4.3 • 260 Ratings
-
-
- £1.99
-
- £1.99
Publisher Description
CRAIG BELLAMY is one of those footballers you can’t ignore. If he plays for your team, you love him. If he doesn’t . . .
Everyone thinks they know Bellamy. Pace and passion. A handful for defenders. Scoring goals and winding up opponents. Winning friends – and making enemies.
Blessed with a natural talent, he has enjoyed a colourful career at a host of top clubs. The proud Welshman is one of the top ten appearance makers for his country. But his rise to the top of the game wasn’t easy. It could have all been so different.
He came from a loving family but temptations lay in his way. Follow the crowd or follow a dream? Join your mates in a gang on the streets or try to make it as a pro? It was a choice between the two.
Bellamy chose football and became a rebel with a cause. He quickly climbed the ladder and shared dressing rooms with some of the biggest stars in football – from Ryan Giggs to Steven Gerrard. His burning desire to succeed made him a winner on the pitch, but that same passion also got him into trouble. There were famous bust-ups with John Arne Riise and Alan Shearer, not to mention rows with Graeme Souness, Rafa Benitez and Roberto Mancini.
Away from the spotlight, there is a different side to Bellamy. His earnings from this book will be going to the Craig Bellamy Foundation, a charity which offers children in Sierra Leone the chance to fulfill their sporting potential. He is a devoted Dad and was heartbroken at the tragic and shocking death of his close friend Gary Speed.
Craig Bellamy: GoodFella uncovers the real man behind the player and reveals the untold stories of a life inside football’s fast lane.
Like Bellamy himself, it doesn’t hold back.
Customer Reviews
Great read
In what is a very honest and open novel, Craig Bellamy describes what the life of the modern day footballer is really like.
Even though I am a Swansea city fan Craig has been one of the players I looked up too since i started playing football in 2003. I wanted to be like him when I was thirteen and he was playing for Blackburn under Mark Hughes. This is his best spell as he was playing for someone who respects him and vice versa. For me Mark Hughes gets the best out of him as he did for Wales and Bellamy was one of the key players for Rovers that year.
Craig has also given me one of my greatest moments as a Welshman when he scored the winner against Italy ten years ago when they had Del Peiro, Vieri and Totti in their ranks that evening.
What I like about this book is that is unbelievably frank. From growing up as a kid in Cardiff to going to Norwich Where he was crying every night for months just to get to sleep. Then showing what he can do for them and moving on to Coventry City before going to grave the big time with Newcastle in what was a great side at the time.
The business with Alan Shearer does not surprise me as that clearly happens a lot at clubs. It's just in this case it was in the public domain. His honesty about Elano and Robinho at Manchester city shows how serious he takes football. He is far from the brat that he is often seen in the newspapers and media.
One memory that it is the book that stands out for me the goal against Swansea at the liberty. As described Craig scored the winner and milked it(fair enough). I remember however one fan wanted to meet Craig and decided to invade the pitch. Craig just stood their looking at this guy with zero fear in his eyes. That's another thing I like about him clearly a lunatic!!
His input into welsh football improving is also good. Cardiff controlling its outer city Areas plus places like Merthyr, Rhonda and Caerphilly should give them am excellent academy. In my view the Swans should do the same with Bridgend, Neath Port Talbot and the west as the two biggest sides in Wales have the best talent in South Wales. Clearly the WFA are not going to do this anytime soon so the two clubs should try to do this on their own back.
However a great book from a great player who was not rated high enough for me. Good luck with the charity work and the season ahead. Just not against the Swans!
Honest and inspiring
Fantastic player who you either loved or hated. Love him on your team, hate him on the opposition. Honest and fair assessment and reflection on his career. Will make a great manager one day now in touch with his emotions.
Craig Bellamy
What an insight to gut I had no time for?
I always though the was a hot head, carried baggage and a bit of a trouble causer.
after sampling the book I was compelled to download the whole read
I am a female Liverpool fan, so some may say/think 'what do you know'?
Tell you,after reading this relatively true account of himself by himself,I would recommend this to anyone; it gave me a better insight into how he is and why.
Hats off to Craig, just wish I could congratulate him personally as not on media sites
Good luck Craig