O'Neill battles to keep 'handful' Bellamy

Martin O‘Neill has admitted Craig Bellamy is “a handful” – but insists he is more determined than ever to make the player’s move to Celtic permanent.

The Newcastle striker was notorious for courting controversy in the past before a series of spats with boss Graeme Souness forced him out of St James’ Park and paved the way for his loan move to Parkhead in January.

The closest he has come to trouble during his time at Celtic was when he was quizzed by police following an incident in Glasgow city centre but Bellamy was in Inverness at the time.

However he hit the headlines again recently for allegedly sending a text to Alan Shearer, claiming his Newcastle team-mate‘s legs had gone and that he was too old.

Newcastle denied Shearer responded by threatening to “knock seven bells” out of Bellamy but chairman Freddy Shepherd made it clear the Barclays Premiership club sided with “hero” Shearer in the row.

Despite his off-field antics, Bellamy has been a revelation at Celtic and O‘Neill insists his desire to keep the player is stronger than ever.

He said: “I think he‘s learning. He‘s certainly a handful, there‘s no doubt about that.

“His performances for us have been fantastic and I thought his first-half performance against Rangers was top drawer. He has played very, very well since he has arrived and has given everyone a big boost, the fans, the players, everybody. He will missed tomorrow.”

Bellamy has been ruled out for up to three weeks with a hamstring strain and therefore misses tomorrow‘s Bank of Scotland Premier League game against Hibernian.

Although Bellamy is progressing well, O‘Neill was reluctant to raise hopes of an early comeback.

The Celtic boss added: “He‘s doing well at the moment and he‘s progressing nicely but it‘s too early to call.”

O‘Neill continues to deny the title race is over, even though the 2-1 win over Rangers at the weekend puts Celtic five points clear at the top of the table with only four games left.

If both Old Firm teams win their remaining games, Celtic will be crowned Scottish champions again against Hearts on May 15 and Gorgie security chiefs have moved quickly to quash any hopes of a title party at Tynecastle.

There is already bad blood between both sets of supporters after Hearts fans disrupted a silent tribute to Pope John Paul II before last month‘s Tennent‘s Scottish Cup semi-final and Hearts fear a riot if Celtic are allowed to parade the SPL trophy.

O‘Neill has hit back by claiming his only interest is winning the championship, not where they celebrate it, but was quick to point out again that the title race is far from over.

He said: “I noticed there was something today about us not being allowed to celebrate a championship win at Hearts if we do happen to do it.

“No-one at Celtic is talking about championships. What happens is that a story gets a bit of momentum and the next thing it‘s read as though it‘s coming out from Celtic.

“We‘re not interested in celebrating the championship – we are a million miles away from that and the players and everyone around the ground knows that.”