Gary Bellamy (born 4 July 1962) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. He began his career at Chesterfield, making over 150 appearances for the club before joining

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in 1987. He helped the club to back-to-back promotions from

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier L ...

to Division Two, as well as winning the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

in 1988. He had a brief spell on loan at

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

in 1982 before moving to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. Bellamy later joined Chelmsford City as player-manager and also managed Dover Athletic and Braintree Town.

Career

Chesterfield

Bellamy had a spell at

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called th ...

as a teenager, but decided to pursue a career in football instead, joining Chesterfield as a trainee. He broke into the first team and played seven seasons at

Saltergate Saltergate, officially the Recreation Ground, was the historic home of Chesterfield Football Club, and was in use from 1871 until the club's relocation in July 2010, a 139-year history that made it one of the oldest football grounds in England ...

. He won the (old) Fourth Division championship in 1984–85 with the club and made a total of 207 appearances in all competitions for the Spirites, despite missing 15 months through injury. Following his return from injury, Bellamy was set to move to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

but the transfer collapsed.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

He left the club in July 1987 after becoming embroiled in a contract dispute to join then-fourth tier

for a £17,500 fee set at tribunal. After making his debut for the club on 12 September 1987 in a 2–2 draw with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

, he won the Fourth Division championship for the second time in his career. The defender also got to experience a

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

final as the club lifted the

at the end of the season too, defeating

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

2–0 in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. His second season with Wolves saw him add another medal as the club immediately won the (old) Third Division. He remained a first choice player in his first season at the second flight level in 1989–90 but subsequently was used only sparingly in the following two seasons. At the start of the 1991–92 season, Bellamy contracted

Lyme disease Lyme disease, also known as Lyme borreliosis, is a tick-borne disease caused by species of ''Borrelia'' bacteria, Disease vector, transmitted by blood-feeding ticks in the genus ''Ixodes''. It is the most common disease spread by ticks in th ...

on a pre-season tour of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

which kept him out for the opening weeks of the season and he was unable to force his way back into the side on his return. He joined

on loan in a bid to regain fitness toward the end of the season, making nine league appearances for the ''Bluebirds''.

Later career

The following season, Bellamy was sold to Third Division

for £30,000 in September 1992. Here, he played as a first choice player for four seasons, despite continued friction with then manager Peter Eustace, before leaving for non-league Chelmsford City in June 1996. Just five months later, he took up a joint manager role for the club and spent five years in this capacity, winning promotion to the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division in 2001. He had earlier guided them to promotion in 1998, but their ground was deemed not to meet the requirements of the higher division at that time. This promotion success alerted

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

side Dover Athletic to him and he took up the reins there following this in June 2001. However, he was sacked only months later in November as the club struggled. He became manager of Braintree Town, where he had had a loan spell as a player, but was later fired in November 2003.

Honours

;Chesterfield *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

Champions: 1984–85 ;Wolverhampton Wanderers *

Champions: 1987–88 *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

Champions: 1988–89 *

Winners: 1988

In culture

In 2008 the English classical composer

Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage (born 10 June 1960) is an English composer of contemporary classical music. Life and career Mark-Anthony Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex on 10 June 1960. Turnage was the eldest of three children. His parents were lov ...

wrote a short piece for counter tenor and harp inspired by Gary Bellamy. The text was a Leyton Orient terrace chant including the line "he looks so flash/ With his northern 'tache". It was released on The NMC Songbook, a 4-CD box set to mark the 20th anniversary of

NMC Recordings NMC Recordings is a British recording label and a charity which specialises in recording works by living composers from the British Isles. History The composer Colin Matthews founded NMC in 1989, with financial assistance from the Gustav Hols ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellamy, Gary 1962 births Living people Footballers from Worksop English men's footballers English football managers Men's association football defenders Chesterfield F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players English Football League players Chelmsford City F.C. managers Dover Athletic F.C. managers Braintree Town F.C. managers