How Jude Bellingham’s dad helped inspire Birmingham City to Real Madrid rise

Teenage sensation Jude Bellingham definitely has his father to thank for certain qualities he possesses, as a young talent within the footballing world.

At the age of 19, he is already a regular in the England side and has just completed an £89m move to Spanish giants Real Madrid, after spending the last three years at Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund, who he captained.

Bellingham inspired the Three Lions to a World Cup quarter final in Qatar in the winter and came within a hair’s breadth of guiding Dortmund to the German title last season. It’s easy to see why Birmingham City academy product Jude is doing so well – he comes from fine footballing stock. After all, dad Mark was a prolific non league striker for many years.

“I used to watch him play all the time,’ Bellingham told The Guardian. ‘It’s where I started to get that love for football. I think you can see in the way I play that I’ve watched the game from a young age. That non-league style of toughness and being gritty when you need to be is reflected in my game, and I do think that comes from watching my dad play – even though he never tackled!’

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Bellingham senior enjoyed a 20-year career as a prolific non-league striker. Before finally hanging up his boots in 2017, Bellingham Snr starred for clubs including Stourbridge, Halesowen, Bromsgrove, Leamington and Sutton Coldfield, scoring more than 700 goals.

“Honestly, I don’t know how he did it,” says Jason Cadden, who was Leamington manager when Bellingham hit 48 goals to secure promotion to the Southern Premier in 2009.

“Evening games, the full-time whistle would blow and you’d see Mark sprint off the pitch. He’d jump in the shower, get in his car and start his police shift at 10pm. To juggle his job, his family life and yet still do what he did on the pitch – it’s full credit to him as a person, really. And he played into his forties!”

The young midfielder is dedicated to learning the game, first from his dad, who was a police sergeant, and later from his coaches, as well as watching on the non-league grounds of the West Midlands, where he saw his father destroy defences week-in-week-out. It is clear that the 19-year-old has inherited his dad’s deadly nature on the pitch and he doesn’t forget that now, after completing a move to arguably the biggest club in the world.

Bellingham Snr himself always downplayed his prowess. “I’ve always said I’m not that great a player,” he told The NLP in 2016. “I think I owe my team-mates over the years a lot more than they owe me.”

Gary Hackett, who played as a winger for Aberdeen, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion and Peterborough United before managing Bellingham at Halesowen, said that that humility is what will steer his sons – with Jobe having just completed a move to Sunderland – through a life of limelight.

“Jobe and Jude are going to be phenomenal footballers you can guarantee those lads will have their feet on the floor, even if they are playing in the Champions League. Mark is just so well balanced and his kids are exactly the same.”

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