Burnley reaction given to Craig Bellamy twist that 'makes no sense' | OneFootball

Burnley have been linked to a possible move for their former assistant manager Craig Bellamy, but not everybody at Turf Moor is happy with this.

Burnley have been linked to a possible reunion with former assistant manager Craig Bellamy, but not everybody at Turf Moor is impressed by this news.

Burnley's quest for a new manager following their relegation at the end of the 2025-26 season is taking rather longer than expected. It's now been more than six weeks since Scott Parker was relieved of his duties after the Clarets' one-season stay in the top-flight.

With the 2026-27 pre-season now fast approaching, a decision needs to be made, but even though the club had been closely linked to the former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard over the last few weeks, there have now been reports that they could be considering making a move for the Wales manager Craig Bellamy.

Bellamy has a previous connection to Turf Moor, having served as assistant to Vincent Kompany between 2022 and 2024. Upon Kompany's departure for Bayern Munich, he was briefly the club's acting head coach before being appointed to the Wales job in July 2024.

"Quite worrying" - Concerns raised over potential Craig Bellamy return to Turf Moor

Action Images

But Craig Bellamy's previous connection to Turf Moor doesn't mean that a decision to reappoint him at Burnley will be universally popular with supporters.

Football League World have spoken to our resident Burnley fan pundit Aaron Wright about the prospect of him returning, and Aaron is less than impressed by the amount of time that this appointment is taking: "I actually found it quite worrying that eight or nine weeks into our managerial search, we've ended up back at option one. It just makes no sense to me, that it's taken this long and ended up back at Bellamy."

Aaron refers to two Wales matches from the 2025-26 season - their friendly against England in October 2025, which ended in a 3-0 defeat at Wembley, and their World Cup play-off defeat to Bosnia & Herzegovina in March 2026 - as examples of matches in which he saw Bellamy's unsuitability for the Burnley job: "I saw nothing from Wales against either Bosnia or England. That England game felt like every single game against a big team in the Premier League under Kompany. It was done in twenty minutes. It was 3-0. Game over. There was no point even playing the rest of the game. The game against Bosnia, they ran out of ideas. They ended up with Sorba Thomas just hoofing the ball into the box."

And our Clarets pundit ultimately doesn't see sufficient reason to appoint Bellamy into this position, despite his previous connection to the club: "So I don't see much real progression, it's just an idea. I don't think it's that big or that clever, and personally I find it really underwhelming. Okay, he was assistant under Kompany, but I actually see no reason to appoint him."

How other Burnley fans are reacting to reports of a possible Craig Bellamy return to Turf Moor

Bellamy & Kompany's Burnley Premier League record was strikingly similar to Scott Parker's

Action Images

Craig Bellamy's two seasons as assistant to Vincent Kompany at Burnley were a mixed bag. The pair marked the end of their first season at the club by getting promotion back to the Premier League with 101 points, but their stay in the top-flight only lasted one season, with the team relegated straight back in 19th place in the table.

Indeed, Burnley's record in 2023-24 under Kompany and Bellamy was strikingly similar to their record in 2025-26. They managed one more win - five versus four - and two more points - 24 compared to 22 - but were still relegated straight back, a long way from safety.

His record as the manager of the Wales national team was similarly mixed. A 4-1 win against Iceland in November was enough to secure them promotion into the Nations League Group A, but 4-3 and 4-2 defeats to Belgium in their 2026 World Cup qualifying group condemned them to the play-offs, where they were beaten on penalty kicks by Bosnia & Herzegovina after a 1-1 draw at The Cardiff City Stadium.

The club certainly can't afford to hold out that much longer before they make a final decision. This summer is complicated by a World Cup finals taking place, but the summer transfer window reopened on the 15th June, and with less than two months until the start of the new Championship season and a lot of work to do, time is surely now of the essence for the club, if they're to optimise their pre-season time ahead of plotting another swift return to the Premier League.