Former Manchester City star Craig Bellamy has revealed why he did not think Manchester City would be able to lift any Premier League title.
Bellamy was a Citizen back in the early days of the takeover by the Abu Dhabi owners. He over saw the first group of players who came to City which saw the club rise from a mid-table team to a squad capable of challenging for titles. However, Bellamy had his reservations.
“It was a club in mid-table, looking to progress,” he recalls.
“They were in and out of good results and bad results. You have good and bad results because to do it week in week out is tough.
“[To get better] Training has to be tough and the tempo has to be high and I think during that transfer window me and Nigel De Jong were brought in to win challenges in training.
“I always believed from the moment I walked in City were going to go on and win titles.
“By meeting Khaldoon Al Mubarak and seeing the way they had everything planned, [I knew] they were going to build a football club.
“Was I going to be good enough to win you that league title? I didn’t think so.
“But would I be good enough to get you into the Champions League? Yeah, I thought I could do that.
“And then if I can get you into the Champions League and you want to go and sign a Sergio Aguero, who rewrites the history books whenever he wants, then great. Good luck to you.”
“Thinking back, it was just the emergence of a club on the up”, he said. “A club trying to be better, trying to improve facilities.
“Watching how they did it and watching certain people come in was really exciting for me.
“That first transfer window, I’ll never forget it. Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez came in and it was just like, who next?
“It gave me another lift to say I’m not worried about who comes in, I’ve just got to be fit and I can compete with these guys and play.
“If I’m not good enough, no problem, but give me the opportunity to compete with them. I was lucky enough that I had it that year.”
“It was important that they kept the tradition of the football club,” he added in the year the Club celebrates its 125th anniversary.
“I think that’s always difficult to keep. At the time when I was there, I did enjoy that side.
“I enjoyed seeing ex-players coming in and seeing this football club then progressing.
“I was able to work with some really good people who had seen the bad times but were getting better times.
“I wanted to be on that journey as well.”
