Urgency, energy and detail - Bellamy's new beginnings excite Wales

Life was rarely dull when it came to Craig Bellamy the player.

The combustible personality and the explosive ability, the quick wit and sharp tongue; there was always a headline, always a story.

This, though, is a new chapter, one of Bellamy the manager.

Just don’t expect it to get boring. Not on this early evidence.

Bellamy version 2.0 may well be more worldly-wise, more focussed, more able to channel the passion for the game and his country that has always ran deep.

But, even just 90 minutes into his reign, his side – and it already feels like his side – retains that sense of thrill he so often provided.

Bellamy knew it too as he walked off the pitch at Cardiff City Stadium, saluting fans who had almost giddy excitement at the adventure and ambition of their team even after a goalless draw.

Waving a kiss to family high in the grandstand with clothes sodden from Friday night’s south Wales rainstorm, the 45-year-old would have been equally soaked in sweat such was the way he put everything into his first 90 minutes in charge.

And yet the work had started long before.

Meticulous had been a phrase used by one Football Association of Wales official for how Bellamy had approached these Nations League games from the minute he had been named as Rob Page’s replacement.

Immediately more present and visible at the FAW’s bases than his predecessor, the former striker has been involved in every aspect of the planning for his first impression of his second coming.

More than just the long hours of analysis and tactical discussions, there was even a direct input into new signage around the team hotel. A new shade of red to signify a fresh start, key phrases from his vision for the team on display for the moment players arrived.

There had been regular conversations with captain Aaron Ramsey in the build-up, and then meetings with the rest of the team – as a squad and as individuals – peppered the crucial first few days of camp. Just as Bellamy had experienced under Gary Speed, environment is everything.

Tweaks to routines, such as returning to training at the stadium, new and deliberately picked squad numbers, all helped underlined this was new and different, immediately energising the camp.

There was a calmness about instructions – and there was time for the same round of golf Bellamy would switch off with as a player himself – but there was also the “non-negotiable” demand of standards.

A sense of urgency was how one official put it. Players were on their toes.

While plenty accept it will take time for it all to come together, Wales are not going to be underprepared under Bellamy.

Of course, everyone has a plan until they are punched in the face.

“An hour leading up to it I was like ‘what have I done, what have I got myself into?’ I had such a good life before this!” Bellamy joked afterwards on whether he could actually allow himself to enjoy the moment as he had promised himself.

Most fans had not seen those last moments before stepping back into the international arena, the 78-cap international emerging out of the tunnel and into management without any tannoy welcome.

In jeans, jacket, t-shirt and box fresh trainers, a date night with destiny began with the anthem he knew would spark memories and emotions. He appeared almost as pained as he was proud as he sung, lowering his head at one point.

A smile to meet Turkey’s Italian manager Vincenzo Montella, and then the nervous energy, released only partly by pacing around the technical area waiting for kick-off, when once he would have sprinted onto the field.

Restricted by white lines, his voice still made it onto the field while he demanded angles and illustrated instructions with his hands as if conducting rush hour traffic.

He would pause to offer applause as Wales pressed high and hard, or to take advice from No.2 Piet Cremers during breaks in play, but the involvement it was constant. It was less a case of kicking every ball, more chasing every ball down.

It took 20 minutes before he – briefly - sat down, far sooner than the first archetypal throwing down of his hands once seen in the shirts of Newcastle, Liverpool and others.

And yet, more notably, he was the calmest in the stadium when the likes of Ramsey went close, allowing coaching staff to react first when the game became needled, and crouched down rather than exploded when the game frustrated.

In many ways, you could have pictured Bellamy being in the centre of things as it became heated, but he stayed well clear when Montella’s assistant Danielle Russo was loudly protesting decisions and found himself booked.

That is not to say the fourth official did not have plenty of considered opinion from Bellamy, but only as much as some of his players.

Brennan Johnson was the recipient of plenty of advice.

Since Gareth Bale’s retirement, the No. 11 shirt has been worn by newbies or youngsters with little other option. Here it was handed to Johnson, a player Page struggled to get the most from.

Bellamy walked and talked the player through much of the game as if on a real mission to get more from the former Forest man. As Bellamy acted out a shuffle and a drop of the shoulder to showcase what he wanted, you wondered if he at that moment wished he could still be out there.

Instead, from the sidelines, he saw and acknowledge a change in Turkey’s shape and adapted – something Wales have struggled to do in recent years.

It did not bring a breakthrough, but it did perhaps signify the new start being made.

The final whistle brought an enthused response from supporters, as it did from officials.

“And that’s from just four days,” said one encouraged FAW figure, encouraged as much as the fans at a far brighter Wales performance and potential for more.

It was high-octane, high-risk at times, but as senior player Ben Davies said afterwards: “There will be times with hearts in our mouths, and it probably will go wrong at some point, but if you in your identity but do it half hearted it’s not going to pay any dividends - so let’s go for it.”

There were words for all players as the rain fell at the final whistle, Neco Williams not disclosing exactly what was said as the new manager put his arm around the shoulder to speak to several on a walk around the pitch.

“It was all positive,” the Forest full-back said, as all echoed the manager’s claim of more and better to come.

But perhaps the key words had come before the game in the dressing room.

“He’s a passionate Welshman, he’s been in our seats before and knows exactly what it takes,” said Tottenham’s Davies on what the pre-match teamtalk had been. “But his biggest message was that this is just the beginning.”

And there appears little danger of it being boring.