Craig Bellamy has insisted he has no desire to leave Burnley to go into management anywhere after being quizzed on whether he would take the vacant manager's post at Cardiff City.
Bellamy has once again been linked with the job at Cardiff, but the Burnley assistant boss, who saw his side draw 1-1 with the Bluebirds on Saturday, said he is happy in his current role at Turf Moor.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Central Club podcast, former Bluebirds, Liverpool and Manchester City forward Bellamy ruled himself out of the running to take the post at Cardiff City Stadium.
"The more I've looked at it, not just Cardiff, I'm not interested in being a manager," he said.
When asked if he would take it if Vincent Tan phoned him up to offer him the job, he responded: "No. I like being out on the pitch every day. Being a manager sometimes doesn't give you that. You have to deal with the board level. I've seen what Vinny (Kompany) has done and he can multi-task really well, he's not like most people. His patience and managing different situations, putting a puzzle together.
"I like my role and I like that role. I feel I'm more use to him in that role. When I see how good he is, I don't feel like I could get to where he is. I am my own man, I've always been my own man, I argue all the time about stuff, I like that. It'll improve me. I improve every day. All I search for is to improve every day.
"If I was under a manager and felt I could offer more and do better than what he is doing I might have looked at a different avenue and thought I could do better on my own. But because I am with someone who is teaching me so much and I'm surrounded by other people I'm learning so much from, this is what I need and where I want to be.
"As a manager I don't see it, I don't feel it."
Many Cardiff fans were shocked to see Steve Morison get the axe after just 10 games following a summer which saw the club entrust him with bringing in 17 new players and drastically alter their style of play.
And Bellamy, former team-mates with Morison with Wales, shares that shock, believing Cardiff were playing good football, despite the results, before they got rid of their manager.
"Whether or not you feel he should have had the job, Steve, is always up for discussion. I'm always aware of what gets said. But he was given the role," he added.
"But he got them away from the relegation zone. Now I look at the summer, the overall change, he brought in 17 players. The wage bill went down, which it had to, it wasn't sustainable. It's going to take time.
"[Burnley] have brought in 15 and it's going to take us time. I've watched Cardiff a lot this year. We have played teams they have played already. I've caught a lot of Cardiff's games and they are not far away.
"I've looked at games and thought, 'They are alright'. The way they break lines, the way they play. They haven't taken their chances. They didn't play well against Bristol City, but they had great chances and opened up Bristol City.
"The game against Preston, they were miles better than Preston and should have won that comfortably. They should be on way different points to where they are now. It's still early days.
"Why would you allow someone to make 17 signings, change the playing style, then after 10 games, six weeks of the season, feel it's not for him or he's not for you anymore? I was surprised."
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He went on to say that, with Cardiff's recent record of letting managers go, perhaps we should not be surprised that Morison was relieved of his duties.
Bellamy believes that might be off-putting to some potential managers. He suggests the problem with letting so many managers leave in such a short space of time lends itself to styles and philosophies constantly changing and that lack of continuity makes bringing through youngsters far more difficult.
But, importantly, he also thinks Cardiff is a great club with massive pull and that they will have already been inundated with phone calls to take the post. At the minute, it's Mark Hudson who has taken the job on an interim basis and the general consensus is he will be given a run to stake his claim for the role permanently.
However, the Clarets assistant ruled out a couple of candidates who have featured fairly prominently at the top of the bookmakers' odds lists.
"There are managers out there who will take it. They will be getting phone calls from them. It's a good club, why wouldn't you want to take Cardiff?" Bellamy said.
"But, it's the type of managers. Your Scott Parkers, you can forget about them, they are different people and think differently about the game. Sean Dyche, forget about him.
"Nathan Jones, you can't even get players out of Luton! They are so well run. They have got money and they are a real stable club. Luton don't sell unless they want to do business. Even though he is a Cardiff fan, he is at Luton and I'm sure he'll be staying there.
"There are other people out there, who knows. I want them to get it right. I hope they get promoted, I hope we (Burnley) get promoted, but I want to see Cardiff do well.
"I love seeing Cardiff do well."
Indeed, Bellamy has categorically ruled himself out of the running and when Burnley boss Vincent Kompany was asked about the links on Saturday, he replied: "I don't know, he has to be sitting here to answer that question. I back myself to surround myself with good staff and he is one of them. I completely expect many of my staff members to be mentioned in many places in the future but they are best placed to answer these questions."
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