Bellamy 'the ideal fit' for Wales

Craig Bellamy won 78 Wales caps and captained his country between 2007 and 2010

Technical director Dr David Adams believes the Football Association of Wales (FAW) has found the "ideal fit" after appointing Craig Bellamy as manager of the men's national side.

Bellamy was this week named as the successor to former team-mate Robert Page, who was sacked in June.

Adams, who is also the FAW's chief football officer, led the search for Page's replacement.

The key qualities required by the FAW - which were published on the association's website - included strong leadership, the ability to make effective in-game decisions and the desire to buy into the 'Welsh Way'.

Adams feels confident former Wales striker Bellamy will tick all the right boxes as Wales boss.

"Over time we’ve developed a certain uniqueness about the way we think about head coaches in Wales, we wanted to respect that," said Adams.

"I think it is a full-time job, you need to be watching players regularly, connecting with clubs, and you need to be interested all the time in tactics and innovation.

"Craig was the first person we rang, the first person we met and Craig was the first person who came naturally to us on the shortlist. He was the ideal fit to the profile."

Bellamy played for the likes of Manchester City, Newcastle United, Celtic and Liverpool before finishing his career back home at Cardiff City.

After retiring from playing, he coached in Cardiff's academy before working for Belgian side Anderlecht and then Burnley as the assistant to Vincent Kompany.

Following Kompany's departure to Bayern Munich this summer, Bellamy took temporary charge of the Clarets before the club appointed former England international Scott Parker as their new manager, opening the door for the FAW.

Bellamy's appointment means his first chance as a permanent boss of a senior team, Adams viewing the 44-year-old as a "natural leader".

"When you spend time with Craig he naturally comes across as a leader, he’s got the characteristics of a leader," said Adams.

"Our search came back to someone who has spent time developing themselves as a coach, someone who we see as a leader and someone who has a real passion and commitment to the role. We see that in Craig."

Adams sees the similarities between Bellamy, who is regarded as a student of football, and some of the biggest names in the game.

"I’ve spent a long time in this environment and seen the likes of Patrick Vieira and Mikel Arteta come through our [coach education] programme. You get a sense of what the characteristics are of a leader and what a good head coach looks like," explained Adams.

"We interviewed 10 people for the job. It was a big effort from Craig because he was up against managers with a variety of international experience and managers who know the role of being a head coach, but he still came back as the standout candidate."

Wales agonisingly missed out on qualification for Euro 2024, suffering a penalty shootout defeat in their play-off final against Poland in March.

That meant Wales failed to qualify for the European Championship for the first time since 2012.

The FAW has highlighted what it expects of Bellamy's side as Wales attempt to reach further major tournaments.

"The important thing for us is that we build back to the Welsh way of doing things, we must maintain our principles on and off the pitch, it’s essential we get those things right to start with," said Adams.

"It’s about making sure we have an identity and a style of play, if we get those things right it’ll give us a better chance of qualifying.

“We would expect to go to the World Cup in 2026 - that would be an expectation. But we also know football is a game of small margins and as we found out in March, it doesn't always roll your way.

"There are so many moving parts to international football it can be hard to determine success and failure. But we've got the best measurements in place to make sure the team is on the right trajectory and we're confident that will enable us to be successful."