Controversy tends to surround Craig Bellamy wherever he goes - and his time in the North East were no different. Reports had already surfaced during Sir Bobby Robson's reign that Bellamy had thrown a chair at then first-team coach John Carver while the club were travelling to face Real Mallorca in the UEFA Cup in 2004, but it was the player's relationship with Graeme Souness that proved most explosive. The two did not see eye to eye from the moment Souness arrived at the club, and it was a match at Highbury against Arsenal in January 2005 that finally ended their relationship. With Bellamy omitted from the squad, Souness first claimed the player had a hamstring injury, before contradicting himself after the game and stating that the striker had refused to play on the wing. Bellamy immediately gave an interview in which he claimed he would play "in any position" for Newcastle, but then he admitted he had threatened to fake an injury if he was made to appear on the right wing. Souness was livid and insisted "liars" like Bellamy would never play for the Magpies again. After finding Bellamy two weeks' wages (£80,000), Souness sent the forward out on loan to Celtic - but the saga did not stop there. Bellamy allegedly sent abusive text messages to Newcastle legend Alan Shearer and Freddy Shepherd's son Kenneth - with the Magpies' famous No 9 supposedly threatening to "knock Bellamy's block off" if the Welshman returned to St James' Park. There's never a dull moment at Newcastle United, is there?
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
