Bellamy lifts lid on knee injury agony
FORMER Coventry City striker Craig Bellamy has admitted he almost retired in 2003 and that he turned away interest from Manchester United.
Bellamy, right, was the Sky
Blues’ record signing at £6 million when he joined them from Norwich
City in the summer of 2000.
He scored six goals in 34 league games for Coventry and went on to play for Newcastle United, Celtic, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool, West Ham United, Manchester City and Cardiff before retiring as a player in 2014.
In an interview the Welsh international opened up on his battle with knee tendonitis.
He said that he had come away from a pre-season friendly playing for Newcastle in Malaysia believing he would have to hang up his boots at the age of 23!
“We were in Malaysia,” he explained.
“It was us, (Birmingham), Chelsea and a Malaysian team.
“I was struggling with tendonitis at the time in both knees and I remember we played Birmingham, and Chelsea in the final.
“We lost on penalties. “After that, I went back to the hotel and did not sleep that night.
“Couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning.
“I woke up for breakfast. I had breakfast on my own at about six in the morning.
“I sat next to a guy from Hong Kong and we were just having a conversation about football and I just said, ‘I want it to be over. I don’t want to play anymore. I’m in too much pain. I can’t play to the level I want to, when Newcastle have invested in me heavily to play well.’
“I didn’t feel I could justify it. I didn’t feel I was in a position.
“Manchester United were interested in me as well.
“They were interested in me that summer, I didn’t feel I could go there because I was in no position to compete with the players they had. I just felt tortured.”
Bellamy went on to score 28 goals in 93 league appearances for Newcastle and enjoy a fine career with a number of clubs as well as winning 78 caps for Wales.