Craig Bellamy should not be in the conversation about Celtic’s next manager.

There are two types of writing when it comes to Celtic. One simply regurgitates every story that appears in the news without giving it proper context or subjecting it to any real scrutiny. The other tries to examine issues, explore their implications and meaning, and consider whether they are worthy of Celtic in the first place.

Last night the Welsh national side went out of the World Cup, and many have chosen to frame this as the moment to promote the idea that Craig Bellamy is on the Celtic shortlist, strengthening the case that he might get the job.

You cannot publish that kind of claim without asking the most fundamental question. To do otherwise is a disservice to readers.

The question is simple: is Craig Bellamy a credible candidate with a proven track record?

It does not take long to look at Bellamy’s managerial career and conclude that he is grossly underqualified to even be part of the conversation.

I make that point deliberately, because if you think Craig Bellamy is part of the answer, then I do not know what question you are asking. It is certainly not the question of who should manage this club.

Bellamy has never managed at senior club level. He is a Welsh football legend, and he has been appointed national coach, but that carries little weight in this context. Being a modestly successful national coach does not qualify you to run the kind of operation required at Celtic Park. The demands of international football and club management are entirely different.

If you want to see where that kind of thinking leads, look at Chris Coleman at Sunderland. He arrived with a far stronger CV than Bellamy has now. Coleman had managed in the English league, in Spain and in Greece.

He had experience, grounding and exposure at multiple levels, yet it did him no good. Forgive me if I am unimpressed by someone whose entire CV rests on a decent spell with the Welsh national side.

This is exactly the kind of reasoning I criticised earlier when discussing players linked to the club on the back of a relatively decent run in our domestic league. It does not impress me. It is the same logic that leads people to tout managers with modest success in Scotland as viable Celtic candidates. A limited track record at that level is not the CV of a Celtic boss. That is the bottom line.

There is no real sense that these are serious targets. Names like Bellamy do not appear out of thin air. People within Celtic have clearly floated them to senior journalists, who lack the imagination to come up with such links themselves.

Bellamy did play for us briefly. He did want to stay. His affection for the club is well known. None of that qualifies him for the job, and it certainly should not be enough to place him in the discussion.

I have no idea whether Bellamy is a good manager or not. What I do know is that he lacks the managerial CV required to make that judgement. Appointing him would be incredibly risky, incredibly short-sighted and, in many ways, incredibly lazy.

It would be another case of reaching for someone with an emotional connection to the club and pretending that counts as a credential. That kind of thinking reeks of the arrogance and complacency that got us into this mess.

This club needs to start taking the situation seriously. It must treat this appointment with the gravity it demands. The next manager has to be a success. It cannot be a gamble. It cannot be a wild swing. Get it wrong and you set the club back years.

The appointment must unite the support. It must show that lessons have been learned. It must demonstrate ambition. There are coaches across Europe with experience, with trophies, and with the hunger to take on a job like this.

Even in its current state, Celtic remains a major opportunity.

If the club opts for a lazy or uninspiring appointment, then there is no sense of forward movement at all. That would signal regression. Even hiring Craig Bellamy would send a message to the wider football world that Celtic is not serious about its future.

For that reason alone, it should be a non-starter.

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