Cardiff City legend Craig Bellamy claims that he was offered the opportunity to manage the club

Cardiff City legend Craig Bellamy claims that he was offered the opportunity to manage the club a few years ago, but he turned down the opportunity since he felt that the club needed a much better manager than him.

The former Liverpool and Manchester City striker revealed that Cardiff approached him when they were just back in the Championship. Owner Vincent Tan was very keen on reviving the Premier League dream of the club. Bellamy would have commanded instant respect upon arriving as the manager, but he felt that the lack of experience made him an unwise choice at that time.

Bellamy has since been involved in punditry and not direct managerial works. He has indicated in the past that he would like to manage Cardiff at some point in the future. However, the possibility of the same arriving anytime soon looks difficult with Bellamy not stepping into any managerial job as of now. After being turned down by Bellamy, Cardiff began looking at other options and brought him Russell Slade. However, the regime under Slade has been less than mediocre and the club are far away from competing even for a play-off place. Even though they have suffered just one defeat in the past five games, Cardiff are already seven points behind Burnley.

“I was offered it [Cardiff managerial role], but I wasn't ready at that time.Cardiff being the club that I had grown up with deserved better at that particular time than what I was. So I made it clear that for Cardiff City to have a good chance of staying in the Premier League, I certainly was not that option. I was coaching the under sevens and under eights the other night. I see what they are doing and what we can do better as coaches,” said Bellamy.