Souness slams door on Bellamy
Tuesday January 25, 2005
Craig Bellamy has played his last game for Newcastle United.
That scenario moved from being merely likely yesterday morning to inevitable last night after Bellamy said his manager at St James' Park, Graeme Souness, was "lying" about the reasons for the player's non-appear- ance at Arsenal on Sunday.
Newcastle's chairman Freddy Shepherd reacted coldly to Bellamy's accusation and immediately instructed agents to engineer his exit from the club in the remaining six days of the transfer window.
Shepherd, the one man with the authority to broker a peace deal between Souness and Bellamy, also made that virtually impossible by accusing the striker of "cheating" Newcastle - "he's like a boxer throwing a fight," said Shepherd - and added that Bellamy's behaviour was "totally unacceptable and totally unprofessional".
Souness, notably, also has Alan Shearer on his side.
Shepherd will fine Bellamy two weeks' wages - approximately £80,000 - but he may find that Bellamy's salary and a market value of around £6m is likely to deter suitors.
Aston Villa, for one, could not afford the 25-year-old Welshman, though Tottenham Hotspur could, and Shepherd may be faced with an uncomfortable compromise on Bellamy's price as time passes.
He has 2 years left on his contract.
It had been thought that there still might be room for compromise, but the interview Souness gave to the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and responses from Bellamy, then Shepherd, on television closed out any chance of that.
Steve Horner, Bellamy's agent, said last night: "It is difficult to see a way back for Craig at Newcastle now. I am reluctant to say it has gone past the point of no return just yet because things change rapidly in football, we all know that. But today's developments have made it all much harder for everyone involved."
Only a sincere apology from Bellamy to all concerned would suffice now. But that is unlikely after Bellamy's description of Souness's behaviour at Highbury, when Bellamy was not even among the substitutes.
"I sat on the coach and was listening to the radio," Bellamy said. "And [what] the manager was saying . . .
I couldn't believe that. I was in shock, because I thought: 'Not only has he gone behind my back but he's lying. "It seems I'm not particularly wanted by a certain person but the only way he can see to do it [get Bellamy out] is to turn the fans against me.
The one thing I've got here is that the Newcastle fans know how much I want to play for them and will play anywhere in any position. This club means more to me than playing for any certain manager."
After being repeatedly asked to play on the right side of midfield Bellamy has concluded that Souness does not rate him as a striker and this provoked an intense reaction when Bellamy learned of Souness's interest in Portsmouth's Yakubu Aiyegbeni.
Bellamy came to the realisation on Friday that he would possibly not play up front again for Newcastle.
Bellamy walked out of training on Friday as a result.
Yesterday he admitted to saying this was premeditated - "Yes, I did say that I was going to feign an injury" - though he argued "actually doing it is something completely different".
Souness was having none of this and went back to the week before Christmas when Bellamy withdrew from the game at Liverpool after the warm-up.
"The Newcastle United management team were suspicious of what happened at Liverpool," Souness said, "when Bellamy stood down after what he said was a back injury. Yet he managed to train the following day."
Souness said Bellamy had belittled the club in front of Jean-Alain Boumsong and Celestine Babayaro on the day they signed: "Bellamy said in front of Babayaro and Boumsong that this was a rubbish club with a rubbish manager."
Nufcmismanagement view:
We are no great fans of a player who feigns injury but we can also see the other side to the story.
Bellamy had a right to speak to the chairman regarding the club being linked to other forwards while he was being played out of position on the wing.
If a meeting was held in your office and you all agreed that the meeting and its content should remain within your office walls, why was your manager the first to go in front of the Sky cameras and leak out what had happened?
Was this engineered to take place by your manager?
Do you agree with your manager assaulting a player when he had him by the throat in training?
What would you do if one of the management staff at Shepherd Offshore assaulted his staff?
Would you back him or sack him?
Do you have double standards?