Malky Mackay is Britain's best young manager, says Craig Bellamy
Craig Bellamy has pledged his support to the Cardiff manager Malky Mackay but feels the club are considerably worse off without Iain Moody.
Moody has left his role as Mackay's head of recruitment at Cardiff and been replaced by the 23-year-old Kazakhstani Alisher Apsalyamov on an interim basis. Apsalyamov is thought to be a friend of Cardiff owner Sri Vincent Tan's son and appears to have no experience in football.
The decision would appear to undermine Mackay's position but it is understood he has no intention of resigning, and the club have denied reports Mackay was asked to leave his post.
Mackay had, though, repeatedly praised his former colleague's diligence in helping bring in Steven Caulker, Gary Medel and Fraizer Campbell to the club.
Bellamy feels Moody is a big loss: "Iain is a huge loss for us, a huge loss because he is outstanding. Any club with Iain Moody is a miles better club, without a shadow of a doubt."
Bellamy is one of the senior players at the club, and he backed Mackay, rating him among the brightest talents around.
"As a manager Malky is the best young British manager out there and what he's done for this club in a short space of time is nothing short of remarkable," Bellamy said. "We've got a group of players and fans who are united - and he's done all that.
"He's responsible for the connection between the fans and the players. We are such a tight-knit group now, the discipline he has brought into this club is remarkable."
He added: "I'm just a player, I can only talk from a player's point of view and I can't try and dictate to anyone above me but the simple fact is I am very fortunate as a player to be working with the guy.
"He's certainly brought everyone together at Cardiff and we needed that. That's not being disrespectful to the managers who were here before him but he's taken it on to another level. He's united the city and being from Cardiff that makes me feel very proud."