I was flicking through the channels on the radio on Wednesday night and there was an interview with Craig Bellamy on Century Radio. It was really interesting to hear him talk about how he came to sign for us.
He said that he was really happy at Rovers and had offers to join a few different clubs due to "agents being agents and insisting on the 6M contract clause". He had decided to stay at Blackburn because he was playing well and got on well with Mark Hughes and knew all the coaching staff from the Welsh setup. However, Liverpool came in for him and he went and told the manager that he couldn't turn us down. He said that Hughes was fuming and told him that it was the wrong move for him; that he would not play and that he was better where he was etc.
Anyway, he talked about meeting Benitez for the first time. He said that he travelled down for a chat and it was the strangest meeting he had ever had because Benitez spent the whole time telling him that he had should be doing this or that better, that he needed to improve so much of his game, that he wouldn't play much, that his idea was to use him as a squad player etc etc"
He said that he came out of the meeting wondering if he was really wanted at all. However, he said he had no regrets about joining us because he loves the club so much and it was an honour to play for us and that if Benitez had of only offered him 8 games in the whole season he would have still signed.
He said that best manager he has worked under was Bobby Robson at Newcastle because he knew exactly how to treat each player. That he gave the lads loads of confidence by telling them they were world beaters
