I'll show my career is not on slide, says Bellamy

14 April 2012

Craig Bellamy has been called many things in his career, with Newcastle assistant manager Terry McDermott's description of "a little upstart" probably being the most complimentary.

After whacking Liverpool team-mate John Arne Riise with a golf club, the Welsh firebrand was variously labelled "the nutter with the putter" and the "sledge with a wedge".

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Misunderstood: Bellamy says his bad-boy image is far from the truth

Misunderstood: Bellamy says his bad-boy image is far from the truth

Even Alan Shearer once famously threatened to "knock his block off " after receiving some unflattering text messages from Bellamy's mobile phone.

The one description of Bellamy that has been missing up to now is that of a "top-class footballer and a model professional" but West Ham's new £7.5million striker says he is working on that.

The perception is that a dressing-room which includes the feisty Welshman plus Lee Bowyer and perhaps still, Kieron Dyer, may need warning notices posted outside for the general public to feel safer yet, as Bellamy reveals, those two young men are among his best mates.

"Kieron has always been a good and close friend," said the Wales striker."Lee Bowyer was my next-door neighbour at Newcastle and now I'm living next door to him once again in London."

The evidence is overwhelming that the 28- year-old striker has a provocative personality but it is one he is working to improve.

He also believes the perception is far from the reality. The Cardiff-born player said: "If you judge me the way I am on the pitch then perhaps you are going to think I'm a bad person but that's superficial.

"At the end of the day I go home to a great wife and three lovely kids and that is what is important to me. This is a good move. I didn't want to come out of Liverpool, the team I supported as a kid, and have nothing else to aim for.

"I want to prove that my career is not on the downward slope, I want to have a go as a player, in the same way that West Ham want to progress.

"I'm 28 now and I don't believe I'm at my peak yet. I want to have a right go now and just really put my name up there. People have known I can play but they've also been aware of the other stuff and sometimes that has overshadowed the football.

"I know now that will always be there, I'll always have that because of what has gone on before but now I want to cement my name, if you like, so that when West Ham fans look back they will say 'what a good player he was' and not anything else.

"I've made mistakes, of course I have, particularly as a young kid. These days though, it's a lot more difficult, the way the world is.

"I'm sure you can remember the time when the football journalists and the players went out together for a drink. Could that happen now? I doubt it.

"It's sad really because the way it's gone is not the way I want to see it. I've been involved in a bit but then so have others, including Wayne Rooney and even John Terry, who is England captain. It's the way of the world unfortunately."

Bellamy — who is now at his seventh club after spells at Norwich, Coventry, Newcastle, Celtic, Blackburn and Liverpool — does have a more caring side.

This summer, he went to Sierra Leone to help spearhead a new football academy initiative in the troubled country. He intends to return with support, both financial and otherwise, from fellow professionals.

For the moment though, he is fully focused on his new challenge at West Ham and the potential for a lethal striking partnership with Dean Ashton.

"I don't like to speak about one player because, from experience, it doesn't always work out as planned," he said.

"I remember when I was at Newcastle, the chairman said what a partnership Patrick Kluivert and Alan Shearer were going to be.

"Come the start of the season though, it was me and Alan. Nothing is nailed on but, given a bit of time, Dean and myself could be a good pairing."

Bellamy is aware he's joining a club partial to a certain amount of volatility, most recently and notably with Paolo Di Canio.

Bellamy said: "I know this crowd at Upton Park can be special and I have to earn their respect. The rewards are tremendous, of course, but as soon as you go out on that pitch, your reputation is at stake.

"I can say all the right things, go to all the functions but in the end they will only warm to me if I do it on the pitch."

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