Craig Bellamy's Decision to Stay with Wales: Insights from FAW's David Adams
Craig Bellamy was right to sit down with Burnley in the summer. That is the firm view of Football Association of Wales chief football officer David Adams, who insists the Wales boss did nothing wrong by exploring a return to club management.
Bellamy, whose FAW contract runs until after Euro 2028, has never hidden his ambition. International football is only part of the journey for him; he wants the day‑to‑day intensity of club work again. So when Burnley – a club he knows well – came calling after Scott Parker’s departure, he listened.
He spoke to the Clarets. He weighed it up. Then he stayed.
From the outside, the saga looked messy. Reports suggested Bellamy had accepted the Turf Moor job before any announcement. Inside the FAW, Adams says, the picture was far calmer.
“The way it played out was unfortunate, things get leaked these days,” Adams told the BBC’s Feast of Football podcast. “Naturally, the longer things go on, people start to make their own noise.”
Behind closed doors, Bellamy had been upfront.
“Internally, Craig has always been very open and transparent about opportunities,” Adams said. “We all know that Craig wants to eventually go and work in club football, he’s made that very clear across his time here.
“For him to go and speak to Burnley was the right thing to do, knowing that he does want to do that at some point.”
Adams himself was in regular contact with Burnley chairman Alan Pace over the summer, just as he had been when Bellamy left the Lancashire club in 2024 to take the Wales job. The relationship lines were open; there were no surprises.
“We were happy for Craig to go and speak to them,” Adams explained. “And then unfortunately, the way it played out was that they were saying he had accepted the job when he hadn’t.
“Craig was telling us the same thing as that and then one morning he rang and said ‘I’m staying’.
“Craig’s very transparent, we speak a lot, we get on well, so that’s how it landed really.”
Succession planning never stops at the FAW, though. Even as Bellamy recommitted to Wales, Adams continued his quiet work in the background, preparing for the day when the phone call goes the other way.
“Behind the scenes in my job, I have to be alert to these things and I have to have a list of people in the background that I’d speak to if [Bellamy’s departure] ever materialised,” he said.
There is a clear template.
“We’ve got a profile of what we’re looking for, which we’ve been pretty successful in doing by selecting former international players into the role.
“That’s always our preference, to find someone who is connected to Wales, is passionate about Wales and has Wales in their heart.
“That’s been a really good profile of manager to look at in the last 10 years and we would try and stick to that profile ideally.”
A “game-changer” for women’s football in Wales
While Bellamy’s future hovers somewhere down the line, the women’s game in Wales is hurtling forward at pace – and Adams believes the next decade could reshape it completely.
Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will host the women’s Champions League final in 2029. For Adams, that single decision changes the landscape.
“It’s absolutely incredible, a game-changer for us,” he said.
Cardiff already knows what a major European night feels like. Cardiff City Stadium staged the women’s Champions League final in 2017, the same year the men’s final came to Principality Stadium – rebadged as the National Stadium of Wales for Uefa events.
The growth since then has been stark.
“When I first came into the job, we were getting maybe 1,000 people at Rodney Parade for women’s games,” Adams recalled. “We got 15,000 at Cardiff City Stadium in this last campaign, so you can see the growth and how quickly the game is moving.”
Packed stands, big stages, visible heroes. For Adams, those images matter as much as any scoreline.
He says young girls watching role models perform at Cardiff City Stadium and Principality Stadium is “just inspirational for those players”.
The national team is matching that momentum. Under Rhian Wilkinson, Wales’ women have qualified for a major tournament for the first time, sealing their place at Euro 2025 in Switzerland. The next target is even bigger: a first World Cup.
They resume their 2027 World Cup qualifying push with a double-header against Albania in October, knowing every window now carries real jeopardy and real opportunity.
And the horizon stretches even further. The 2035 women’s World Cup will be staged in the United Kingdom, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all hosting matches. Wales want to be there, not just as co-hosts but as contenders.
To do that, the FAW knows it must deepen the talent pool.
“Our goal is to create a pathway, which hasn’t been there for women’s football, where girls can actually play in a talent system which prepares them to play in tournament football on a consistent basis,” Adams said.
He is proud of the strides already taken, but refuses to pretend the job is done.
“I don’t think we’re there yet, personally. I think what we’ve done in the last three years is fantastic, with the girls’ regional programme.
“But now we’ve got to try and make sure the girls graduate out of that system and play in the top leagues across Europe.
“That’s what gives you the best chance of qualifying consistently for major tournaments.”
For Bellamy and the men’s side, the next big date is Euro 2028 and whatever comes after it. For the women’s game, the calendar is packed with milestones: Euro 2025, a World Cup push, a Champions League final in Cardiff, a home World Cup in 2035.
The FAW’s challenge is clear. Can they turn this moment into a lasting era?
