Quotes from Craig Bellamy

Glasgow was a tough city. You were adored, and you were hated.

I've always had this crazy thought that I have to win something; otherwise, my career's a complete failure. It's ridiculous. Will a trophy change me as a person? No. Will it make me a better player? No. So what the hell am I worried about?

I don't think I'll ever get away from my reputation.

When I left Liverpool, my aim was to get into the top six, and I was looking for a team that could get involved at that level. West Ham were brilliant at the time. They'd signed a lot of players, had a lot of money. But they've had problems since then.

Football - a simple game really, yet generally, in the game, we make the simple things seem harder. But it's those simple things that get you to the top.

It's difficult. I'm a single parent now, and I'm having such a battle to see my kids on a daily basis. It's so hard.

I don't like the Italian approach. I don't want to be involved in that kind of football.

As a professional, you're taught from a young age to despise losing. But I began to accept that, in football, you will win some games, and you will lose some games, with draws here and there, too. That's just the nature of the game.

I was a troubled young kid, and I would try to break every rule.

I knew I needed to move away when I was 15, but when I got to Norwich, I spent nights crying myself to sleep with homesickness. For any young kid moving away from home, that is the biggest thing you have to deal with.

I let football drive me crazy. If we lost, I would shut myself away for two or three days, not sleeping, torturing myself about what I did.

If someone labels you, it is very hard to shake it off.

I've always enjoyed the coaching side, working with young players, trying to improve them and to make them not only see football different but to see life differently.

My discipline in myself has got me where I am. I try to emphasise that to young players.

My brother is gay - he's a couple of years older than me, and I could not be more proud of him. It was right for him. If a player was going through something similar at a younger age, I feel I would be understanding because I was there to watch it with my brother.

The lads I played football with on the street when I was a kid in Cardiff were as good as me, and in many ways, my career is due to them.

I started to realise I am not as strong as others, and I can't muscle someone off the ball who is twice the size of me. So I have altered my game, playing on the half-turn, for example, and it's made me a much better player.

Certain players need twice the recovery time of others because they run much more - not because they put in more effort but because they're playing different positions.

I joined Norwich when I was 15 and moved away from a life living on an estate in Cardiff and everything I knew. I moved away from my girlfriend, who is my wife now, and my nan, who has now passed away. I missed a lot.

I surround myself with family. I have got the most incredible wife in the world and unbelievable kids.

I did get myself into little scrapes when I was younger and a bit stupid, but there is only one manager I have worked under who ever spoke a bad word about me.

In the past, before games, I would near enough make myself ill. Nerves and stuff.

I've got belief that the Newcastle fans know how much I want to play for them.

I felt bad for Newcastle when they lost their 2005 FA Cup semi-final to Manchester United. They had loaned me out to Celtic, but I still had a lot of affection for them.