Craig Bellamy the manager was born at Man City with help from a club legend - now he's revolutionising Wales

There might not have been too many Manchester City fans who saw Craig Bellamy as management material during his career.

Headlines tended to follow Bellamy, who spent two-and-a-half years at City, and the Welshman was a fiery and combative player as well as being a hugely talented one. Yet the former forward is now leading his country in what is his first managerial role, and one person who could see the coaching potential in the now-45-year-old was City legend Vincent Kompany.

Now in charge of Bayern Munich, Kompany had Bellamy as his assistant at Anderlecht and Burnley - where the pair helped claim the Championship title with the Clarets in 2023. When Kompany moved to Germany in the summer, Bellamy was considered for the top job at Turf Moor but instead took over his national side and has enjoyed an encouraging and unbeaten start with two draws and a win from his first three games.

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He's introduced a new attacking style to the Wales squad and will aim to earn a Nations League victory over Montenegro in Cardiff on Monday night. It would cement his early positive reputation with the Welsh public somewhat reinvigorated by their national side after the disappointing end to Rob Page's tenure and a failure to qualify for last summer's European Championship.

Kompany labelled Bellamy as misunderstood during his time in charge at Turf Moor and believes his former teammate has a lot to offer the game.

"I hear a few people say that Craig is someone who is misunderstood and I think that is very true," he said, speaking in 2022. "The headlines during his career don't