Craig Bellamy's Future as Wales Manager in Doubt After Burnley Move Falls Through
Craig Bellamy walked into the Wales job promising a long journey. Less than a year later, he finds himself at a crossroads before the road has even settled beneath his feet.
The 46-year-old’s proposed move to Burnley has collapsed after talks with the Championship club, leaving him still in charge of the national team but with serious questions hanging over his position and his relationship with the Welsh public.
“Burnt a lot of bridges”
Iwan Roberts, who shared a dressing room with Bellamy for Wales and Norwich City, did not sugar-coat the fallout.
"He's lost a lot of love and faith among the fans and I would think he's burnt a lot of bridges," Roberts said, reflecting the mood among a support that had been told this was the “best job in the world” for Bellamy, a role he had long coveted.
Roberts believes the Football Association of Wales now faces an uncomfortable decision.
"The Association and [FAW chief executive] Noel Mooney know that Bellamy is looking at other jobs and has had his head turned by the links to Burnley,” he said. “The big question now is whether they keep him on as national team manager."
It is not just the FAW Bellamy may have to convince. It is the players, too.
"The players will know that if he'd had the chance he would have left and gone to Burnley," Roberts told S4C's Newyddion. “That after saying this was the best job in the world and how much he was looking forward to leading Wales into the next Euros.”
Burnley call, deal dies
Bellamy’s link to Burnley was no surprise. He served as Vincent Kompany’s assistant at Turf Moor between 2022 and 2024 and even stepped in briefly as caretaker boss. When Burnley sacked Scott Parker in April, the path back to Lancashire opened quickly.
The club approached the FAW about appointing Bellamy as Parker’s successor. Talks followed. Momentum built. Then it stalled.
The breakdown of the move is understood not to be about compensation to the FAW. Negotiations over Bellamy’s backroom staff – who he wanted to bring with him to Turf Moor – were thought to be a sticking point. Whatever the exact detail, the result is clear: Burnley have moved on, and Bellamy remains Wales head coach, at least on paper, until 2028.
That contract was meant to carry him into Euro 2028, a tournament staged across England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Bellamy had spoken openly about his ambition to lead his country into that historic home championship. Now those words sit uneasily against the events of the past weeks.
An “uncomfortable” return
Among former Wales players, there is a split tone: respect for Bellamy’s club ambitions, but an awareness that the damage at home is real.
Gareth Bale has already said it would be a major blow for Wales to lose Bellamy, underlining how highly the former forward is regarded within the national setup.
Another ex-striker, Malcolm Allen, told BBC Radio Cymru he is actually pleased Bellamy will stay in charge with the European Championship two years away. He understands why the Burnley job appealed – the daily rhythm of club football, the constant work on the training ground, the week-to-week challenge that international management cannot replicate.
But Allen knows what awaits Bellamy when he walks back into Wales duty.
"It's an uncomfortable situation to be in," he admitted. The image is vivid: a manager returning “with his tail between his legs because he hasn't got the job with Burnley,” as Allen put it, and facing a fanbase that has already started to question him.
"There will be some who were frustrated after we failed to reach the World Cup thinking 'how can we allow him back?'" Allen said.
Trust, money, and the only way out
There is also a hard financial edge to all this. Missing out on the World Cup has left the FAW feeling the strain.
"The situation financially is that the FAW don't have a lot of money at the moment after we missed out on the World Cup," Allen pointed out. Paying off a manager on a long contract is no simple option. That reality could yet be Bellamy’s biggest ally.
So the FAW must weigh up the cost of change against the cost of keeping a coach whose commitment has been publicly tested. Bellamy must weigh up how to address a dressing room that knows he was ready to walk away. And the supporters must decide how much forgiveness they have left for a man who once called this his dream job, then tried to swap it for the grind of the Championship.
Allen is blunt about the route back.
"So he will have to win those fans over and the only way to do that will be to win games."
No slogans. No speeches. Just results.
