Negotiations about an improved contract were due to take place last week, but Bellamy’s agent arrived for a meeting with Shepherd to be told that the player had been fined two weeks wages for his sending off against Inter and that the meeting had been cancelled.
But after his performance on Sunday Bellamy appears to be back in the chairman’s good books and negotiations about his rumoured new £50,000 per week contract look set to resume after Christmas.
"We all know that Geordies are fair-minded people and this proved to be the case on Sunday,” said Shepherd.
"I said before the game that I was rooting for Craig and it was clear that everyone else was too.
"Our view was that Craig had paid a very high price both financially and personally for what happened against Inter Milan, and that enough was enough.
"However, Craig was under tremendous pressure and he could not have worked harder or performed better and if Alan Shearer's equaliser raised the roof, then his winner took it off.
"Now we feel that Craig has turned the corner and everything is fine.
"I'm sure that these contract talks will resume in the near future."
Does Bellamy deserve a new contract? Have your say at the Toon Chat Messageboard