Bellamy in little doubt that Speed can spark future glory

The former Sheffield United manager’s competitive bow ended in a comprehensive defeat to England that leaves Wales bottom of Group G without a point after four games.

Any hopes of reaching Euro 2012 had been all but extinguished before the visit of Fabio Capello’s men with Speed stressing the priority is ensuring his players are ready to kick off the next round of World Cup qualifiers in September next year.

And Bellamy believes the 41-year-old has shown enough already to suggest Wales could have a bright future.

The 31-year-old said: “It has been the best week I have been involved in with Welsh football, to be honest.

“All my career I have been fortunate enough to play for my country, but for the first time I really see a future, and the national team being able to do something.

“It has been so professional, the preparation this week. It has been so spot-on.

“There has to be professionalism off the pitch to get a good performance on it.

“For the first time in my Welsh history – we touched on it a bit with Mark Hughes – we are more developed.

“I have spent all my career involved in really highly professional clubs and then when I came to Wales it was amateur.

“But I have seen so much to be pleased about this week.

“I have no doubt Welsh football in four or five years’ time will be having a lot of success.”

Bellamy, at 31, may not have a huge role to play once the next qualifying campaign gets underway – especially as a persistent knee injury has restricted his appearances while on loan at Cardiff City this season.

However, he believes the likes of Aaron Ramsey, who captained the side against England, and 21-year-old Gareth Bale can help Speed immeasurably in the coming months and years.

Bellamy said: “We have young players we have to be positive about. We are not just playing young players, but good young players.

“In a few years time these players will have learned from this game.

“I will be watching in the stands. A lot of my years have been wasted but these young players are going to learn from this.”

Speed was appointed Wales manager in December after a four-month spell in charge at Bramall Lane.

On his second game as manager ending in defeat, the former Blades chief said: “To lose a goal in the first five minutes was tough to take and we struggled to deal with it for the next 30 minutes.

“But we were mentally strong enough to keep trying to play. We have learned from this and will benefit in the future.

“I hope the fans stick with the side. We didn’t give them too much to shout about today.

“The way things went in the first five minutes, it was very difficult against a top-quality team.

“But we are not always going to play England.

“Hopefully, the fans can see that and when they come back next time they can shout us on once again.”