CRAIG BELLAMY IS CITY'S STAR

MARK HUGHES has impressively blended his cast of superstars and solid citizens into a team that really can break up the Big Four cartel.

Despite City's ultimate defeat, last week's epic encounter with Manchester United confirmed that money CAN buy success.

Assuming Hughes buys a top-class right-back in January (what on earth has happened to Micah Richards?) City WILL challenge for a Champions League place.

But if they are to go the extra mile and actually win some silverware it won't be either a galactico like Carlos Tevez or a grafter such as Gareth Barry who makes the difference. It will be a player who doesn't quite fall into either category - Craig Bellamy.

Bellamy a Player of the Year candidate? That might stick in the craw after his crazy antics with a fan after scoring two brilliant goals.

But that is the Bellamy enigma. A top-class player who continually spoils it by reminding everybody there's a village out there missing its idiot.

When he's on song, Bellamy is world class, every bit as dangerous as Tevez or Robinho.

Tomorrow, when West Ham arrive at Eastlands, he will be the target for vitriolic stick. And not for the first time.

It will be on a similar level to what Manu Adebayor suffered from Arsenal fans. It is to be hoped we don't see the same outcome.

Because in many ways the stick Bellamy faces will be unfair. That he left West Ham on bad terms was as much down to the club as the player.

Given their perilous financial state, West Ham were compelled to sell him. Until then he had been their best player and, once fully fit, he produced a sequence of match-winning displays that meant they did not get sucked into a relegation battle.

Bellamy has become a symbol of how things went wrong for Hammers.

Three years ago they, rather than City, were meant to be the mid-table team who would make the giant leap, with all the Icelandic money being pumped in.

Rash promises and massive wages attracted players like Bellamy. But now the money has dried up and the club has made its worst start for seven years.

Bellamy can't be as stupid as he sometimes seems. His outlook on life is broad enough for him to have invested £650,000 in an education project in war-torn Sierra Leone.

So wouldn't it be great if, after last week's furore, Bellamy wakes up to the fact that he doesn't have to go around shouting and screaming like a latter-day Vinnie Jones to get noticed.

Craig Bellamy is a fine enough footballer to let his feet do all the talking and prove that he, rather than any foreign superstar, is City's true attacking talisman.

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