‘I’m not f**king singing’ – Ex-Liverpool star Bellamy reveals events which triggered ‘insane’ Reds bust-up
Former Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy has revealed the series of events which triggered him to hit John Arne Riise with a golf club in their infamous Reds bust-up.
Ahead of their clash with Barcelona in the Champions League in 2007, Liverpool took a trip to the Algarve for a relaxing pre-match break in order to prepare right for their match at the Camp Nou.
But it turned out to be anything but relaxing for Bellamy and Riise with the pair falling out on a night out and Bellamy choosing to threaten his team-mate with a golf club.
The former Liverpool forward, who has been speaking to The Overlap, has revealed he hit Riise around the legs “but there was no smacking across the head or anything like that”.
Explaining what triggered the incident, Bellamy said: “I had one incredibly insane moment. We were going to play Barcelona in the Champions League, so we went to Portugal for the training camp which is not uncommon. Towards the end of it, we were allowed a night out – but before that, we trained, and we played golf. I didn’t really play golf then – I’ve only really played it after my football career.
“As we were playing golf, it was me, Robbie Fowler and John Arne Riise. Steve Finnan was with us as well. I questioned some of his [Riise’s] golf shots or where I felt the ball ended up. There were certain areas where I felt I’d seen it go somewhere and it ended up in a much better position. I said to Finney ‘he’s cheating’, and he said, ‘don’t worry about it, just leave it’.
“During the night, we had a few drinks, and then it was karaoke songs, because [Javier] Mascherano signed for us, and one or two new players had to sing an initiation song. He [Riise] had to sing a song because we had a Christmas do, and he didn’t turn up – he said he was going back to Norway. We found out he didn’t go back to Norway, so his song was part of his punishment by the captain, as well as paying a fine.
“I told him that he’s got to sing, and he’s dead against it. When someone’s dead against something and doesn’t want to do it, I want to push it more – ‘you have to’. Then it keeps going back and forth, until he said, ‘I’m not f**king singing and stop trying to f**king make me’.
“Then he left, and the more it went on the more I was thinking about it. Its festering in my head, more drinks were coming into my head – not that I’m using that as an excuse. I remember little moments where he was elbowing me in training, and I was thinking this had gone on for a while now, which annoyed me even more.
“Steve Finnan and I were sharing a room, we go back and I told him ‘I’m not having that’ and went to look for Riise’s room. He was sharing with Daniel Agger, so I gave him a ring. I asked Steve what [golf] club he had that he didn’t like, and he said his 8-iron. So, I took it with me and said, ‘I’m going to go find him.’ He said ‘Bellers, you can’t’ – and I said either you’re staying or coming with me, and he decided to come.
“I’m quite embarrassed about this – this is not a good moment at all. But I understand that I have to answer that – because I have to own it. It’s a ridiculously pathetic act that it’d be unfair for me to not talk about it, and I’m not proud when I have to talk about it, but I have to own it.
“I knocked on his [Riise’s] door, no answer, I knocked on the door again and he leaves it on the latch – he thinks it’s Daniel Agger, and he goes back to bed. I came in, turned the light on, swore a hell of a lot at him. I smacked him across the legs – which is still not a good thing to do, but there was no smacking across the head or anything like that.
“Then he got into the corner, got the sheets and bedding around him, and I said, ‘if you ever speak to me like that in front of people again, I’m telling you now’ and escalated what I was saying. Then it started turning, because when I was drunk, I started turning into a riddle, where if you’re unhappy with this, you better come and see me tomorrow morning, and he said okay. I turned that into ‘what do you mean, do you want it now?’ and Finny was hiding behind the light – it was the most insane thing ever.”
Bellamy also revealed that former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez informed him that he would be leaving the Reds on the way home from the Champions League final.
The ex-Liverpool and Newcastle forward added: “On the way back, [from the 2007 Champions League Final], he [Rafa Benítez] comes and sits next to me. He said that they’ve identified other targets, that they feel they are able to bring in. If you feel there is an opportunity for you to go to another club, speak to your agent, you’re able to go and explore that.
“I needed to [leave Liverpool] because I knew that I was going to be even more of a squad player than I was. I remember we played Everton at Goodison Park. This was three, four games in and I wasn’t even in the squad.
“That was a hard one to take. Coming into most games, I could honestly tell you that I didn’t know if I was playing. Barcelona in the quarter-finals [of the Champions League], I only knew an hour and a half before that I was playing. I just didn’t have the ability to be able to adapt to that either – for me it was all or nothing, either I play or if I don’t play, then if I’m not wanted, and I may as well go somewhere else.”
