Souness: I had no choice with Bellamy and Robert

Newcastle boss Graeme Souness insists he had no choice but to get rid of Craig Bellamy and Laurent Robert in order to save the club.

Bellamy’s move to Blackburn last week following Robert’s switch to Portsmouth saw the Magpies part company with two of their more outspoken employees after a series of run-ins with the Scot.

Souness is currently searching for replacements as he prepares for a crucial season, but he remains unrepentant and adamant his tough stance is already paying dividends.

Asked in a fans’ question and answer session on the World section of the club’s official website, www.nufc.co.uk, if there was anything he would have done differently, he replied: “There is not too much, I do not think.

“People talk about the Bellamy situation or Laurent’s situation – they were situations that had to be confronted, they needed strong management and I felt I dealt with both those situations in the best way possible for Newcastle United.

“I am not a fool, I have been in the game a long time and the only thing that matters at a football club is the football club. We, as individuals, can come and go, players come and go, managers come and go. The club and the group, that is the only thing that matters.

“I am sure if I sat down and thought about it long and hard, there would be things, but there are no major things, no obvious things.

“I am happy with the signings we have made; I am happy with the ones we have let go. It was sad to see Andy O’Brien go and Aaron Hughes go and Darren Ambrose - they are genuinely good lads, really good lads, but to be fair to them and to be fair to the club, I thought it was the best thing.”

On the subject of the team spirit in the dressing room he said: “(It is) fantastic, the best since I have been at the club.”

Six players have so far left St James’ Park this summer and another, Lee Bowyer, is attracting interest from West Ham and Charlton, while only one - Scott Parker – has so far arrived.

Souness remains hopeful of landing Turkish international Emre Belozoglu and is ready to mount another bid for Fulham’s Luis Boa Morte as he attempts to shake off the bitter disappointment of last season’s 14th-place Barclays Premiership finish.

“If we land Emre and we get certainly two more players at that level and then we maybe get another couple of players who would be important members of the squad – but we have to be realistic, we cannot go out and keep buying Scott Parkers, only Chelsea can do that at this time,” he said.

“But if we can land Emre and we can get another couple of high-class players and we can be a wee bit lucky with injuries, I feel we can certainly challenge for a Champions League spot.”

Strikers too are a priority after the departures of Bellamy and Patrick Kluivert, especially with skipper Alan Shearer having delayed his retirement by only 12 months.

His replacement remains a major headache for Souness, who said: “Whoever took over from the previous manager, that was always maybe the biggest headache he was going to have.

“How do you replace a legend, how do you replace someone who consistently got over 20 goals a season for the club?

“If you look back over the last seven or eight seasons and take Alan Shearer’s goals out of Newcastle, Newcastle would have been a mid-table team at best.

“His goals have pushed them up the table, so it is a monumental task to try to find Alan’s replacement.

“We have some names. We are trying to get people in with a proven track record and it is a big, big job to fill Alan Shearer’s shoes, whoever comes in. But we have got some big names in mind.”