Bellamy emerges as shock candidate to take over at Cardiff
Published:Manchester City’s Craig Bellamy is determined to stay at Cardiff City, so much so that the attacker is in the running to replace Dave Jones as manager.
Bellamy’s £90,000 a week wages are proving a stumbling block in his bid to remain a Cardiff City player next season and one way of getting around that is offering Bellamy a role as player-manager.
Sources close to Bellamy have dismissed the idea as unrealistic but the betting suggests otherwise with Bellamy emerging as an early frontrunner alongside Martin O’Neill and Billy Davies.
While these three lead the betting, Chris Hughton and Roberto Di Matteo look the strongest candidates to take over as the two are currently without a club and have proved their worth in the Championship guiding Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion to promotion.
It seems highly unlikely the 31-year-old Bellamy will want to make his first foray into management now and Cardiff would be better off concentrating on tying up a deal to keep the attacker at the club next season.
Expectations were raised when Bellamy arrived in Cardiff at the start of last season and whoever takes over from Jones will be hopeful they can include Bellamy in their squad next season.
Despite being strong promotion contenders all season, Cardiff look a huge price at 16/1 to win the 2011/12 Championship title considering the likes of Hull (14/1) Ipswich (14/1) and Middlesbrough (8/1) are ahead of them.
The Championship is wide open next season with any number of clubs in the running to win the title and West Ham currently head the betting at 11/2.
