Wales manager Craig Bellamy accepts everyone loves romance in football, but thinks asking Joe Allen to solve his midfield conundrum against Montenegro would be a “gamble”. Swansea City veteran Allen, capped 74 times for his country and among Wales’ best-ever midfielders, reversed the decision he made in February 2023 to retire from international football earlier this month.

Craig Bellamy remained upbeat after Wales surrendered a two-goal interval lead to draw their Nations League tie in Iceland. Brennan Johnson and Harry Wilson rewarded some incisive first-half approach play to put Wales in command on a freezing night in Reykjavik.

Wales manager Craig Bellamy insists his team can build further on his first camp in charge last month when two positive performances created plenty of excitement among supporters to carry with them into Friday night’s match in Iceland. Euro 2024 quarter-finalists Turkey were somewhat fortunate to leave Cardiff with a goalless draw before Montenegro were beaten 2-1 in Niksic in Bellamy’s opening two matches in charge in the Nations League.

If Wales need inspiration as they head towards World Cup qualifiers later this season, then the man to supply it could be Rhys Norrington-Davies. The Sheffield United defender has shown bucketfuls of resilience to get to the point where he may now finally return for his country this weekend.

Joe Rodon is confident Wales can overcome the “massive loss” of his Leeds United team-mate Ethan Ampadu for the rest of their Nations League campaign. Leeds captain Ampadu will be out until at least January having sustained a knee ligament injury in their Sky Bet Championship win over Coventry on September 28.

Craig Bellamy has warned his Wales captain Aaron Ramsey against taking up a player-coach role at Cardiff City. Ramsey was recently awarded his UEFA A Licence and has been linked with a Cardiff coaching job following the sacking of Erol Bulut and the interim appointment of Omer Riza.

Craig Bellamy may have tempted one Wales legend out of retirement, but he believes another is in the wings when he gets back to fitness. Joe Allen’s return to national duties at the age of 34 had been flagged up for some time after Swansea City revealed Wales manager Bellamy had been in touch.

Brennan Johnson has earned more praise for his goal contribution from Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou. Wales striker Johnson scored for the fourth successive match as Spurs cruised to a comfortable 3-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

According to some business theories, there are three types of management crisis: responsive, proactive and recovery. There’s a fourth, though – Cardiff City. This is a state of permacrisis where the management is changed, the faces alter, the name plates in the car parking spaces are updated, but the crisis goes on

Cardiff City are being linked with a move for James Rowberry as their new manager following their decision to sack Erol Bulut. Rowberry is currently working as head of elite coach education for the Football Association of Wales and was last month also appointed as one of Wales national team manager Craig Bellamy’s assistants.

Aaron Ramsey will miss Wales’ next two Nations League matches – as well as around a dozen games for Cardiff City – after being ruled out with yet another hamstring injury. The Wales captain picked up the injury during his 15-minute cameo appearance at the end of the 2-1 win in Montenegro earlier this month.

Ollie Cooper went to the last World Cup, but his role was not one that grabbed too many headlines. The Swansea City midfielder was part of the Wales group that journeyed to Qatar almost two years ago, but his duties were as a back-up training partner, rather than an official member of the 26-man squad.