Craig Bellamy has emerged as one of Celtic’s targets for their next manager, according to Stephen McGowan.
As things stand, the Parkhead dugout will be vacant after Saturday’s Scottish Cup final against Dunfermline, with Martin O’Neill’s interim spell set to conclude.
Despite the Irishman hinting against it, we are yet to receive official confirmation that this is the case.
Despite this, McGowan has revealed Bellamy as a contender, along with the much talked-about Robbie Keane.
He has seriously impressed in charge of Wales…
Craig Bellamy ‘seriously tempted’ by Celtic job
As reported by McGowan in The Herald, Bellamy is ‘prominent’ among candidates for the job, should O’Neill depart as expected.
However, the Wales boss has serious interest elsewhere.
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The report says that Burnley have made an approach for Bellamy to replace Scott Parker upon their relegation to the Championship.
The Welshman is well-known at Turf Moor having served as an assistant to Vincent Kompany when they were promoted to Premier League in 2023.
Bellamy worked under a host of top managers in his playing career, including O’Neill himself at Celtic. Even in his playing days, he was known as an obsessive about the game.
Since moving into his coaching, he carried the full-throttle nature of his playing career into his makeup as a manager.
Whilst working with Kompany at Anderlecht, he reached out to then-Yokohama manager Ange Postecoglou to get involved with the club, having grown an admiration for the Aussie whilst sharing facilities with him in Melbourne in 2012.
When Kompany accepted an offer to manage Bayern Munich in 2024, he attempted to bring Bellamy with him, with the Welshman rejecting this in favour of forging his own path in management.
He then made the unusual move of accepting an international role as his first senior management job. Understandably, the opportunity to manage his beloved Wales was too good to turn down.
Wales went unbeaten in their first nine competitive matches under the former striker. When they were finally defeated, it took a late winner from Kevin De Bruyne to seal a 4-3 win for Belgium.
I want the next manager of Celtic to be…
Would Craig Bellamy come to Celtic?
The report says that Bellamy would be “seriously tempted” by a move to Glasgow… not a surprise, given that he has still never managed a club.
However, his current contract runs until 2028, when Wales will contest a home EUROs. To prise the 46-year-old away from this wouldn’t be easy.
Despite his stellar start in the Wales job, Bellamy failed in his bid for World Cup qualification, falling to Bosnia on penalties in the play-offs.
Publicly, he has insisted that he remains committed to Wales.
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