Craig Bellamy, the Welshman who returned to Liverpool and then won the FA Cup and League Cup, along with shattering the club’s records. He grew up close to a stadium in Cardiff City and had his eyes set on the Reds since he was young.
According to Liverpool Echo, Bellamy stated, “I’ve been lucky really because a lot of supporters don’t get see the number of trophies we have, I grew up in the 80s which was a hugely successful period for Liverpool when it felt like virtually every year we were winning the league or the FA Cup.
“My fondest memory is the year we beat Everton 3-2 in the FA Cup final, obviously with everything that happened at Hillsborough, and I was actually at the game against Arsenal when we lost the league in the last minute of the last game.
“But to me the FA Cup was more important because of what happened, it was so big for us to win that cup because of what went before and that for me is the fondest memory, to have two clubs like Everton and Liverpool from the same city in the final and able to share the sadness but also the joy and togetherness of what was two great sides at the time.
“Seeing the supporters being able to come together at a time of such sorrow for the city was the most rewarding thing I’d been involved in as a Liverpool fan.”
After making his first appearance on the field back in 1997, he was only 17 years old and he was enrolled in Bristol Academy when he was nine years old. He had multiple knee injuries which delayed his chance to join in the Premier League but his team at the time, Coventry City took him in for the price of £6 million.
Following that, Chelsea and Tottenham wanted to sign him on but when Liverpool made a bid for him, he knew that’s where he wanted to be.
“When I walked into Melwood, I felt as though everything in my career had been leading to this moment”, he stated. “It was the first time I had ever been there and it was like being in a dream. A lot of things went through my mind. It was only a year ago that my name was mud and everybody had been branding me a troublemaker and saying I was untouchable.
“I had undergone four operations on my patella tendons and two on my cruciates. I had suffered from episodes of depression. I even thought back to sitting in my garage in Norwich on Christmas Eve, doing my leg presses. This is why I did it. To get here. To get to Melwood. To sign for Liverpool.”
There was even a time where Steven Gerrard told him off in the locker room which made him tremble and ‘melt’. He was known to be expressive and had little to no filter when he talks. This was after the team had an all time low score and felt that he should’ve been on the field more.