Graeme Souness has revealed how Craig Bellamy's move to Celtic was partly set in motion by an office altercation that turned physical.
The Rangers legend and the current Burnley coach did not see eye to eye when working together for a short period at Newcastle, a fiery relationship kicked off when Bellamy was shunted out to the wide areas from up front. Then, after a public falling out in the aftermath of a defeat to Arsenal, Souness loaned the forward to Celtic Park for the rest of the 2004/05 campaign, selling him to Blackburn Rovers upon his return. Souness had stated it was him or Bellamy at Newcastle and that allowing the forward to remain would have ended his managerial career at The Toon after a series of incidents.
Speaking on the Up Front podcast with Simon Jordan, the 69-year-old has revealed how one bust-up in his office ended in him placing his hands on someone who he believes was a difficult package. He explained: "I am manager of Newcastle and we were at Charlton, I make a sub around 80-something minutes, Craig Bellamy is coming off and he said something the cameras caught. Very easy to lip-read.
"So I called a meeting to talk about it, just a quick chat about the weekend. Craig is sitting straight in front of me. And I was talking and he was shaking head, I was trying not to look at him.
"Then in the end I had to say 'Craig, what is it I'm saying you're not agreeing with.' Before I got a chance to speak, I had taken a step towards him and I told him three different things I wasn't happy with.
"The last one being telling me to do one and by that time, I have my hands on him. It is not something I have ever done before but I think Craig if he was sitting here would admit and has admitted privately and publicly, that he was a difficult boy to deal with. A fabulous player, a pain the a** to deal with."
