NEWCASTLE are desperately trying to find a buyer for Craig Bellamy, but club officials are already drawing up a contingency plan in case nobody wants to take him off their hands.

The under-fire striker trained away from most of his colleagues yesterday with chairman Freddy Shepherd attempting to engineer him a move out of St James' Park.

But, tellingly, Bellamy has not been placed on the transfer list and, while the Magpies would like to see him leave before the transfer window closes on Tuesday, they are not willing to write off a £6m asset in order to draw a line under this week's controversy.

Bellamy's refusal to issue a public apology - the striker continues to maintain he has nothing to apologise for - has further infuriated both Shepherd and United boss Graeme Souness.

The Wales international has been fined the maximum two weeks' wages - believed to be around £80,000 - and been told that his conduct over the last two days has been utterly unacceptable.

While Bellamy's talent has never been in question, his latest misdemeanor appears to have made other clubs wary of offering him an escape route from Tyneside.

The likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, Aston Villa and Celtic have all been linked with a possible move for the 25-year-old, but Newcastle's initial attempts to sound out interest have all drawn a blank.

Norwich boss Nigel Worthington has confirmed that he will not be offering Bellamy a return to his first club, while Southampton manager Harry Redknapp has hinted he will not be making a move either.

In fact, the only club to make a firm inquiry about Bellamy's situation yesterday was struggling League One outfit Stoke City - and that was only to raise the possibility of taking him on loan until the end of the season.

With time running out, Newcastle are increasingly accepting that they may be unable to sell Bellamy this month.

That creates significant problems, as it is not only Souness who has lost patience with the errant star. A senior player is understood to have been the first person to draw the coaching staff's attention to Bellamy's threat to feign injury when he pulled up in training last week.

The fiery Welshman spoke to his team-mates yesterday, but whether they agree to put their grievances to one side for the good of the club remains to be seen.

They may have to as, if Bellamy is to remain at Newcastle for the rest of the season, it is difficult to see how the club can justify making him languish in the reserves as they attempt to haul themselves back up the Premiership.

Shepherd continues to insist that Bellamy must be punished for his two televised outbursts but, privately, the chairman is already looking at ways of gradually easing him back into the first-team fold.

"This is not about money," blasted Shepherd.

"It is about a player thinking that he is bigger than a football club.

"Let me tell you that no individual - be it the chairman, the manager or a player - is bigger than Newcastle United Football Club, even if that player is a multi-millionaire.

"Craig Bellamy was a fool to go on television (on Monday). We told him not to do it and, as far as we are aware, his agent advised him not to do it as well."

Bellamy's insistence that he will not be handing in a transfer request has further confused the situation, although the striker has conceded that his Newcastle career could be at an end.

"There's no doubt about it," said Bellamy. "I am out of here. I won't apologise because I have done nothing wrong."

Newcastle's fans remain divided over the issue, with most arguing that Bellamy has gone too far, but some expressing sympathy for a player who has been played out of position for most of the season.

Souness, though, maintains that he could not allow Bellamy to dictate when and where he played.

Since arriving at Newcastle in September, the Scot has tried to distance himself from the hard-man image he cultivated at Blackburn.

And, after finally snapping this weekend, he has claimed he would have handled the disagreement in private had it not been for Bellamy's unscheduled outburst.

"I would have no future here if I let any player decide when he was or was not going to train or when he was or was not going to play," said Souness.

"We had a meeting on Friday afternoon and agreed to keep a lid on it all in the best interests of the club and the player himself.

"And by saying he was injured when I was interviewed before the game at Arsenal, I was trying to protect him.

"He's a fool if he cannot see that - just like he was foolish by going on television."

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