Newcastle may sell 'rascal' Bellamy

Newcastle United yesterday hinted that they would not shrink from selling Craig Bellamy if the Welsh striker's off-field behaviour threatened the unity of the dressing-room.

Bellamy was yesterday back with the Wales squad preparing for Saturday's European Championship qualifier with Azerbaijan after completing a 10-hour round trip to Newcastle, where he had an angry confrontation with his club manager, Sir Bobby Robson.

Bellamy had been driven to Tyneside by his father in the early hours of Tuesday after allegedly racially abusing a doorman at a Cardiff nightclub. The 23-year-old first called in at the Welsh team headquarters and woke the manager, Mark Hughes, at 3.15am to tell him of his decision to return to the North-East. However, when he arrived, Robson ordered him straight back to Cardiff.

Asked why his players were allowed out, Hughes said: "I've never been one for curfews and there wasn't one in force on Sunday. They are adults and they have to behave accordingly. You have to trust players. That's always been the case with me and I've never had a problem before."

While defending Bellamy from charges of racism, Newcastle's chairman, Freddy Shepherd, indicated repetitions would not be tolerated. "He may be a rascal but he is no racist," said Shepherd. "When we do have the full facts, we will launch an investigation. What I will say is that we will not let Craig Bellamy, or any other player for that matter, ruin all the good work Sir Bobby Robson and his boys have done on the field with anything they might do off it."

On the field, Bellamy has been a principal force behind the club's transformation under Robson, with his pace offering Alan Shearer a perfect foil. However, he is not a popular figure in the dressing-room at St James' Park and both Robson and some of his senior players have been exasperated by aspects of Bellamy's behaviour.

Last year, Bellamy received a police caution for punching a woman on Newcastle's Quayside. This season's high-calibre performances have been mixed in with wanton indiscipline – he missed five out of 12 Champions' League matches in two separate suspensions; one for head-butting Dynamo Kiev's Tiberiu Ghioane, the other for being sent off in the fourth minute of Newcastle's game with Internazionale. He faces another FA ban should he be found guilty of using insulting language to referee Andy D'Urso after Newcastle's defeat to Middlesbrough earlier this month.

Since Newcastle's title challenge faded when he picked up a knee injury in February last year, selling Bellamy in the summer would be an extreme reaction but, given the enormous fee a striker of his pace and potential could command, it cannot be discounted.

Should, as expected, next Wednesday's international in Serbia be postponed, Bellamy will be returning to training with Newcastle earlier than expected. With Serbia gripped by a state of emergency since the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, European football's governing body, Uefa, will make a decision today whether to postpone it. The Football Association of Wales has already rejected the Serbs' suggestion to play the match in Cardiff while moving the game to Podgorica, where they played Azerbaijan last month, is thought to be unworkable. The FAW has booked hotel and training facilities in Belgrade and some 2,000 fans have made travel plans.