It will always be his identity – Craig Bellamy hails Gary Speed’s Wales legacy

Craig Bellamy paid tribute to the legacy left by Gary Speed by declaring that Welsh football will always carry his identity.

Speed, who played alongside Bellamy for Newcastle and Wales and also coached him at international level, took his own life in November 2011 at the age of 42.

He would have been 55 on Sunday, the day before Bellamy takes charge of Wales for the second time against Montenegro in the Nations League.

“I always wonder how he would have done certain things,” said Bellamy, who was visibly moved as he spoke about Speed ahead of Monday’s Group B4 clash in Niksic.

“He had a such a huge impact on me and this week I’ve probably looked back more than usual.

“I hope the players feel like I felt when he was first in charge. That sense of ‘we’re going to do something here’ because that’s how I honestly felt.

“I hope they get that and I hope I was able to relay some of the messages he was able to relay to us as a group.”

Bellamy added: “The way Welsh football has progressed over the last number of years has been through him. It’s been his identity and it will always be his identity.

“Everything we look to do is to preserve who he is to us.

“Trust me, when we played Turkey last Friday night I was thinking of him. I know it was his birthday today.”

Bellamy’s first game in charge saw Wales produce a hugely encouraging performance against Euro 2024 quarter-finalists Turkey.

The game finished 0-0 as Wales failed to take several scoring opportunities that came their way.

But there was a vibrancy and intent about Bellamy’s Wales that had been missing towards the end of his predecessor Rob Page’s reign.

Bellamy said “I’ve watched the game back and I was really happy. Really happy with the way we were without the ball, it’s the most important.

“I know people will talk about passing and this style or that style, but it’s without the ball. That’s when you know you’ve got the opportunity to become a really good team.

“And once we released, we released in numbers. That really was the best part and that’s what we want to keep and adhering to.”

Bellamy says he is not bothered by the late switch of the venue to Niksic because of the poor state of the Podgorica National Stadium pitch.

Montenegro have played all 77 home matches in Podgorica since becoming an independent nation and joining UEFA and FIFA in 2007.

Niksic’s 5,000-capacity City Stadium – 53 kilometres to the north of Podgorica – was last week the subject of a site visit from Football Association of Wales officials.

Bellamy said: “There are really no excuses. Where does it get you? It’s just so what?

“We’re aware of where we’re going. Running track around the pitch, which is a little bit different.

“Hopefully we’ll have ball boys on the side because we could lose 20 to 30 seconds for every throw-in. It does happen.

“We’d really like the game to go quick, quick, quick. But we’ll have to wait and see on that.”

There will be a minute’s applause for the late Millwall and Montenegro goalkeeper Matija Sarkic before kick-off.

Sarkic died in June at the age of 26 and this is Montenegro’s first home fixture since.