- Craig Bellamy advised Rabbi Matondo to leave Rangers and join SK Brann for regular football.
- Move followed limited Rangers game time and a stalled, injury-hit Ibrox spell.
- Matondo joined Brann during international duty after Scotland’s transfer window had closed.
Former Celtic forward and current Wales manager Craig Bellamy played a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in persuading Rabbi Matondo to make a late-season move away from Rangers.
Matondo will continue his career in Norway with SK Brann, after agreeing a deal with the club following a stop-start Ibrox career curtailed by inconsistency and injury.
Craig Bellamy convinces winger to move
Matondo, speaking about the sequence of events that led to his departure, described how quickly his plans shifted despite an initial determination to remain in Glasgow until the end of the season.
“The window was closed in Scotland, and I had no other thoughts than to stay at Rangers until after the end of the season in May,” he explained.
“But then suddenly, my agent called the day I had travelled to a national team training camp with Wales.
“I had seen Brann in Europe and saw that it was a good team that played good football.
“The Wales manager Craig Bellamy said to me that Brann are a big club in Norway and to go and prove myself.”
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Bellamy’s intervention appears to have been decisive in reframing Matondo’s short-term career outlook.
Rather than remaining in a familiar environment where he would collect a high wage but not play, the forward was encouraged to view the move to Norway as an opportunity for regular minutes and exposure to a different football culture.
For Matondo, the timing was particularly significant.
With the Scottish transfer window shut, options appeared restricted, and a mid-season departure seemed unlikely.
However, the opportunity presented by Brann, combined with Bellamy’s persuasion, created an unexpected pathway.
Bellamy is a former Celtic striker, spending the early months of 2005 at the Parkhead club, but his advice to Matondo will neither boost Celtic or curtail Rangers’ title hopes.
Matondo had been out of the first team picture at Rangers under Danny Rohl.
He had featured just three times under the German, with only one minute of Premiership action.
Now, Rangers have cleared a big wage off their invoice list ahead of the summer window.
It may not boost their chances of the title this season, but the former Hoops forward has indirectly boosted Rangers chances to push away from his old club with a strong window next summer.
