The Wales coach who means 'everything' to Bellamy

Given that he worked as an analyst with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City for four years, you can see why Piet Cremers is the first person Wales head coach Craig Bellamy turns to during games.

Bellamy is as energetic on the touchline as he was as a player and, whenever he darts back to his seat in the dugout, he is usually doing so to consult Cremers and his screen.

They are analysing the game in real time, watching replays to better understand what they have just witnessed with their own eyes, processing data to decide how best to adapt and make the next move.

The Wales job is Bellamy’s first managerial role in senior football but, having worked with Cremers as part of Vincent Kompany’s staff at Burnley, this is already a well-established working relationship.

When he is asked what Cremers has brought to his Wales set-up, Bellamy simply says: “Everything.”

Under their guidance, Burnley stormed to the Championship title in 2023 and, although they only lasted one season in the Premier League, their accomplishments – and the playing style which accompanied them – convinced the mighty Bayern Munich to hire Kompany as their manager.

Once Bellamy took charge of Wales and started assembling his coaching team, he had to call Cremers.

“The year we had at Burnley was down to him,” says Bellamy. “We murdered the league, and it was that. It hadn’t been done before.

“Someone else might have got five-odd points more [over a season] but, trust me, you didn’t do what we did. Nobody did. We only lost three games all season and one of them was when we were already promoted. It was the manner in which we did it.

“From November onwards, nobody saw the ball, everywhere we went. Home or away, it was an annihilation. If teams got a 0-0 draw, they were applauding and doing a lap of honour. It was that good. It was just like ‘wow’. We were so good without the ball, the intensity… and, with it, we were able to find different solutions, able to adapt.

“Piet really pushed us towards this way. Vinny was always very intelligent about sounding out the best people from here, taking that idea from here, if he found someone here… He brought Piet into our world then and it was just like ‘wow’, he moved so many different areas for us.”

Alongside Cremers, Bellamy’s other backroom staff additions were his former Wales team-mate and current Brighton first-team coach Andrew Crofts, ex-Newport boss James Rowberry, England goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson and Wales’ former head of performance, Ryland Morgans.

Despite only turning 30 last month, Cremers has a decade of experience as a coach and analyst.

As well as working in his homeland with NEC Nijmegen, Excelsior Rotterdam and NAC Breda, the Dutchman had a year at Brentford before his longer spells with Manchester City and Burnley.

At City, Cremers graduated from under-23s performance analyst to the first team’s head of performance analysis and insights. It was in that role he worked alongside Guardiola, the legendary former Barcelona boss who has won six Premier League titles, the Champions League and 11 other trophies during his eight years in Manchester.

“He was Pep’s analyst for four or five years, day to day, so the insight of one of the real incredible minds,” says Bellamy.

“To be able to tap into that – and I’m not a little Pep, if you know what I mean, I have different ways and no-one is him – but to get an insight and to see his view, it gets you looking at something.

“Because we (Cremers and Bellamy) are so aligned in what we see, it allows me to find comfort as well. Do you understand? Am I mad here? If I told you some of the shapes and I showed you some, you’d be like ‘that’s insane’. But he puts it into practice - ‘no, this is actually the right thing to do, this is how we do this’.

“That is why I say what I say about formations. If I showed you a shape of how we’d go up against someone else, you’d say ‘you can’t do that’. But I’ve seen him work it and I was like ‘wow, this works, this is serious’.”

Bellamy is in his element when he is talking about football and its tactical intricacies.

Some of his answers can morph into four or five-minute monologues on playing patterns or counter-pressing; the former Wales captain only coming up for air when he apologises, while grinning, for going off on another tangent.

But his enthusiasm is infectious, and it is clear how much inspiration he draws from his fellow coaches.

“I probably wouldn’t but I’d love to sit here and take credit, but it’s him (Cremers), [Andrew] Crofts, Rowbs (James Rowberry),” Bellamy says.

“These people I’ve been able to bring in, it’s them. Honest truth. I’m just for you guys, I’m the one who gets to do the media.

“I don’t believe it’s just one shining guy, it’s the people you have around you. When you work as a group, you find the solutions a lot easier. In this way, I find it’s the best solution.”