Wales charter plane to take Bellamy to Finland
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Wales demonstrated their determination to have Craig Bellamy in their European Championship squad by spending £8,000 to charter a plane to fly the Newcastle striker to Finland after his original plans were scuppered.
Bellamy, cleared yesterday to join up with Mark Hughes' squad, was left waiting at Newcastle airport earlier yesterday when his flight was delayed for four hours, meaning he would have missed his connecting flight from Amsterdam.
At that point it looked as though Bellamy would have to give up on his hopes of playing in the Euro 2004 qualifier in Finland tomorrow. But Hughes insisted that he wanted the 23-year-old in his squad so elaborate plans were put into place.
A Wales spokesman Ceri Stennett said: "It shows how important we felt Craig was to the squad. We are not exactly rolling in money, so the outlay had to be cleared, but everyone felt it was important to make the effort to get him here."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments