Craig Bellamy’s dream start to life as an international football manager just goes on and on and gets better and better. After this week’s 0-0 draw in Kayseri against Türkiye and 4-1 win over Iceland in Cardiff (which extended his record unbeaten run since being appointed to six matches) along with Montenegro’s surprise 3-1 defeat of Türkiye, Cymru have finished top of Nations League Group B4 ahead of Türkiye and are thus promoted back up to the elite and lucrative A Groups for the next Nations League tournament in 2026/27.

Let’s chew some stats. This is only the third time ever that Cymru have topped a tournament group (following Euro 1976 qualifying and Nations League 20/21) and only the third time ever that Cymru have gone through a group undefeated (following the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and Nations League 20/21). Captain Ben Davies, commanding and unyielding in both games, has taken his number of appearances to 92 to join Neville Southall as the joint fourth most capped player of all time. Harry Wilson, oozing class and menace, scored his fourth goal in five games (taking his overall total to 12) which is the best scoring streak since Gareth Bale’s five goals in five games in 2018. The head-to-head record against Türkiye is now P11, W4, D4, L3, Goals F13-A10 and against Iceland P9, W6, D2, L1, Goals F19-A8.

Putting to one side the exciting prospect of taking on the big boys again in the A Groups, the main advantage of winning Group B4 is that it will give Cymru a second chance of qualifying for the next World Cup in 2026 by guaranteeing a place in the play-offs should the direct qualifying route fail. On top of this, Cymru’s FIFA ranking is certain to rise towards the top 20 (we’re currently 29th) when the next rankings are released at the end of this month, meaning a much more favourable draw in seeding pot 2 rather than pot 3 when the World Cup qualifying groups are announced on December 13th. Moreover, had Cymru finished runners-up in B4, as seemed likely before Tuesday’s results, then World Cup qualifying would be put on hold until demanding and stressful Nations League play-offs were resolved and we wouldn’t know who we faced in qualifying until late March making preparations more difficult and schedules more compressed.

More than all this, there is Craig Bellamy himself. I’m not quite sure how he’s doing it, but he can’t seem to put a foot wrong despite driving a coach and horses through all the sacrosanct maxims of the international soccer rule-book. Apart from his irreplaceable core of Davies, Rodon and Williams in defence and Johnson and Wilson in attack, he never plays the same team twice and in particular bravely chops and changes the midfield engine-room from match to match, giving confidence-boosting advocacy to an array of quite ordinary players who then perform out of their skins in response. This is wizardry! Then there’s his down-beat yet intense management style, a staggering combo of acute intelligence, baffling unpredictability, unorthodox originality, sky-high ambition and hard-boiled realism that no opponents can seem to counteract. This is magic! Nor should we forget the ace up his sleeve, the gift that has manifested itself in one way or another in every game so far, the attribute that there can be no answer to, the perplexing mystery that determines everything in the end: sheer luck!

Have I ever told my Craig Bellamy anecdote on this blog? I don’t think I have…pull up a chair and pour yourself a glass of absinthe…

A long time ago, maybe 15 years or so, I was with some friends one Friday night getting inadvisably drunk in a jam-packed pub in City Road, Roath, called Dirty Sue’s (see Pubocalypse 1). I can’t remember who I was with or why we were there, but that’s all irrelevant anyway. Suddenly, into the midst of the heaving masses appeared Craig Bellamy, then at the peak of his playing career, accompanied by an entourage of intimidating minders and pals, rough and ready Trowbridge lads by the look of them. Before I knew it, he was standing right next to me in the scrum at the bar waiting to get served. We were so close that his face was almost touching mine. He was instantly recognisable (although until this encounter I hadn’t realised how small and lightweight he was) and, being the Welsh football team’s Number 1 fan on the planet, I had to say something. “Hi Craig,” I slurred above the cacophony of noise all around us, “I just want to thank you for all the matches you’ve played for Wales, all your brilliant goals and your tremendous performances and all the effort you put into the Welsh cause. Thank you so much. I think you’re fantastic.” He glanced at me with barely concealed indifference and even a touch of disgust and said absolutely nothing. Then, before I knew it, he had squeezed through the throngs with his trademark slippery speed, got well away from the likes of a grubby loser such as moi, and disappeared into the horde. I’ll never forget it. Oh yes, the guy’s a genius!