... the player WANTED to stay at Newcastle, and said Graeme Souness wouldn't last five minutes at the club. As it happens ... he wasn't wrong. And Wales skipper Ryan Giggs hails the arrival of Craig Bellamy at Liverpool.
It is how a manager handles a player, and Souness (as we now know) wasn't the manager for Newcastle. Giggs says Bellamy is better at Anfield ... rather than St James' Park.
Bellamy producing the killer cross that won the Community Shield for his new club against Chelsea on Sunday, to add to the medals he picked up at Parkhead while on loan when Souness kicked him out after a tiff.
Giggs: "Maybe it is through gritted teeth, but Liverpool will improve Craig in so many ways. At Newcastle and Blackburn he has had to shoulder so much himself, but now he will have great players around him to take some of the pressure, and he may not even have to play all the matches.
"Craig's one of those players who just loves playing and I think it will only benefit him going to such a good and big club as Liverpool. He is a tremendous player and I'm sure he'll be a great player for Liverpool. He's got that speed and confidence and goalscoring ability so it's great news for Wales but not so good for the rest of the Premiership."