16 Mar 2024 11:59:28
Ed1 mainly, came across a video of Riise talking about the golf club incident.
Baffling stuff - was the culture that bad in Liverpool during this time? How can an (aleged) thug like Bellamy be drunk, abusive, violent - 2 days before a big away match in Europe?!
Was it Benitez being just to weak to control the players?
{Ed001's Note - Bellamy just came from a world where that was normal, like Grealish etc, they don't learn professionalism and it affects their career. Rafa wasn't weak and got rid of Bellamy as soon as possible afterwards. Luckily younger players are getting a better education at academy level to avoid the drinking culture that is prevalent in Britain.}
16 Mar 2024 14:05:51
Didn’t Bellamy turn it around later in his career and become more professional? Think I read his agent took him to Africa to see how some people live and he realised he’d been a bit of a twat before after seeing them there?
16 Mar 2024 14:26:58
I remember getting 8/ 1 odds on that game that if Bellamy scored he would celebrate by swinging an imaginary golf club. It came in obviously. I liked Bellamy when he played for us but couldn't stand him anywhere else. Very mouthy. The game where we played Chelsea in the league Cup just after Gary Speed died was his best game for us. He absolutely tore them to pieces.
16 Mar 2024 15:39:38
Yeah Squiresy, I hadn't heard who took him and why, but when he was out there he realised how lucky he was to be born in the UK, much less be able to play football for a living. Gave a lot of money to charities and for building work in Africa in the 2nd half of his career. It's one of the reasons he didn't cause any trouble in his second spell here. Too bad he didn't do it when he was 19 or 20.
He's bankrupt now. Apparently a lot his 'friends' and 'advisors' took him for a ride financially.
16 Mar 2024 15:49:32
Felt in his second stint with us he was way better
More mature, used his pace and experience well and always felt he added that bit of excitement to a rather flat team then whenever he played or came on. But injuries had him by then and he wasn’t always available or could last the full match.
But yes, the Chelsea game he turned it on. In part he said as a tribute to Speed and in part in anger for the lack of respect he felt the Chelsea fans were showing during the minute of silence.
16 Mar 2024 17:20:26
@SR, the guy took Bellamy to Sierra Leone specifically and that is where everything changed for Bellamy, apparently. When he came back to us under Kenny, he was such a changed man, IMO.
16 Mar 2024 21:12:52
I played against Bellamy as a 16 year old. He was a tw@t then too.
17 Mar 2024 08:17:45
Bellers and his inner chimp.
A bit like Robbo with his knack for winding the opposition up, but revered by his own fans.
Cracking player in his pomp, injuries were taking their toll by the time he arrived here for his second spell.
Didn't know he was bankrupt though.