Craig Bellamy's Commitment to Wales Amid Burnley Talks

Craig Bellamy insists he is fully committed to Wales and says it was his call – and his alone – to turn down Burnley in the summer.

The Wales head coach spoke openly for the first time about the approach from his former club, who sounded him out over replacing Scott Parker after relegation to the Championship. Burnley triggered a compensation clause in his contract, and the Football Association of Wales granted permission for talks in June.

Bellamy listened. Then he walked away.

“I had a decision to make and I made it,” the 47-year-old said. “It didn't break down. I said no, it's not for me. That was it. There was no walk away from discussions. It wasn't for me.

“I made the decision to stay because this is the right place for me.”

He did not hide that the offer turned his head for a moment. A return to club football. Back to Turf Moor, where he had enjoyed a strong spell as Vincent Kompany’s assistant. A fanbase that knew him, a structure he understood. It was, as he put it, “flattering”.

“We had a conversation but I was already in a role and this (Wales) was what I wanted,” he said. “It was flattering – we all like our ego being exercised and being wanted – but for me, my partner, my kids, this is the place and we didn't see anything else being able to move that.”

The timing of the saga stung some Wales supporters. Weeks earlier, Bellamy had publicly insisted he was “not going anywhere”. When the Burnley talks emerged, a number of former players suggested he would now have to win fans back, while sections of the support voiced disappointment and unease.

Bellamy did not bite back. He turned the focus inwards.

“I know how it could be seen, but I've only one person I have anything to prove to, and that's me,” he said. “I'm comfortable with the decision I've made. I've always been committed in everything I do and that hasn't changed.

“Now, winning people over? I don't know, that's the honest truth.”

He was speaking as he named a 28-man squad for Wales’ Nations League A fixtures against Portugal, Denmark and Norway – the kind of company Wales had long craved before their recent rise. His start in the job, after replacing Rob Page in 2024, had been eye-catching: unbeaten promotion to the top tier of the Nations League and a renewed edge to Wales’ play.

Then came the blow.

In March, Wales fell agonisingly short of the 2026 World Cup, losing to Bosnia-Herzegovina on penalties in the play-offs. The performance levels had built optimism; the result shredded it. Criticism followed, as it always does when a World Cup slips away.

Bellamy did not pretend results don’t shape everything. He talked about the “volatility” of management and refused to offer any guarantees that he would definitely see out the four-year deal he signed.

Nothing is nailed down in this business, he argued – not for him, not for anyone.

Yet when the conversation turned to Euro 2028, and the prospect of leading Wales at a home tournament with games in Cardiff, his guard briefly dropped.

“Oh, I'd love to,” he admitted. “But that's two years from now. Nothing's guaranteed. I'm no different, I'm not more special than anyone else (in management).”

For now, he stays where he says he always wanted to be: in the Wales dugout, carrying both the weight of expectation and the echo of a summer when he could have walked away.