Wales boss Craig Bellamy ‘quietly confident’ in Aaron Ramsey’s future as coach

Cardiff are currently looking for a twelfth permanent manager in fourteen years, having sacked Erol Bulut last month following the worst start to a season in the club’s history.

Omer Riza is currently interim coach and has guided the Bluebirds to their first championship win of the season at the eighth attempt. Last week he defeated Millwall 1-0, before drawing 1-1 against Bristol City on Sunday.

Riza has said he wants the job on a permanent basis, although Ramsey is among a number of other names linked to the role.

But Bellamy rejected suggestions that Ramsey – who already has his UEFA A license, one below the Pro license required to work at the top level – could be a candidate to take over the Bluebirds as player-coach.

“I don’t see that (for Ramsey) right now, no,” Bellamy said.

“I saw Vinny (Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany) do that at Anderlecht (where Bellamy was the coach of the Belgian under-21 club) and it was really difficult.

“That was the first time I saw it up close, I haven’t come into contact with that while playing. I probably wouldn’t recommend it, just based on my experience with Vinny who did it at Anderlecht.

“I had a feeling he felt it was going to be one or the other: he was going to keep playing or he was going to become a manager, and then he chose the manager route.

“So yeah, I think that’s a tough issue.”

Bellamy said he often involves Ramsey in Wales’ off-field preparations and has seen that potential – not just first-hand during sessions at the Wales National Football Development Center in Newport, but since Ramsey was young.

“I talk to Aaron a lot, I try to involve him a lot tactically in what we want to do,” Bellamy said.

“He also comes to Dragon Park a lot to see me, so we go over certain things. I definitely have a very good relationship with Aaron.

“Because I knew his father from the same region, I knew Aaron since he was five; I knew that this boy would become a professional footballer at the age of five, which is very rare.

“So it allows us to have good communication.

“I am very disappointed for him that he has picked up an injury because the game against Turkey in particular (Bellamy’s first game in charge, a goalless Nations League encounter in Cardiff) he was exceptional.

“He did everything we asked of him, the role he played, the chances we created, a lot came from Aaron.

“But he won’t miss too much… I believe he will also be at the camp during this period, so that’s helpful because it’s another set of information that we want to try to process over a period of ten days .”