Craig Bellamy's complaints against his perceived treatment at Manchester City could cost him up to £190,000, with the club so angered by his version of events they are giving serious consideration to fining the player two weeks' wages.
Bellamy's grievance against Roberto Mancini, claiming they had not spoken for six months, has led to a mixture of bemusement and irritation behind the scenes, with the chief executive, Garry Cook, and the football administrator, Brian Marwood, meeting to discuss whether disciplinary action is necessary.
The club are refusing to comment but it is understood they are looking closely at the interviews yesterday, in which Bellamy complained of being "pushed aside" and it being a "situation I find hard to get my head around", claiming last season's commitment had gone unrewarded. "There's a number of players, like Carlos Tevez and me, who he [Mancini] doesn't speak to and keeps us away," he said. "He hasn't spoken to me since February. I don't know if it's personal – he is like that with a lot of players, so maybe that's his manner."
Mancini, who takes a hands-on role with training, rejects this allegation, pointing out it would be virtually unworkable to manage the team without talking to his players. However, Bellamy's assertion that he is "unwanted" looks correct, as he has been left out of the squad submitted to Uefa for the Europa League qualifier against Timisoara. Stephen Ireland, part of the £26m package that will see Aston Villa's James Milner move to City, Jô and David Silva are also left out, the latter to manage his post-World Cup workload, but Robinho has been included and is due back in Manchester tomorrow following his six-month loan with Santos.
The feeling at boardroom level is that Bellamy has not only been selective with the truth but has also displayed extreme nerve portraying himself as the victim when, in reality, his behaviour has been a source of concern within the club ever since Mancini replaced Mark Hughes in December.
Bellamy has clashed with Mancini about wanting an individually tailored training schedule because of his knee problems and was the subject of an internal investigation into comments he allegedly made in the tunnel after the home defeat by Everton. That was the occasion when Mancini clashed with the Everton manager David Moyes, and Bellamy allegedly shouted in support of Everton's manager. The Welshman denied it and with noise in the tunnel making it hard to gather evidence, they decided not to reprimand the forward.
City were also outraged when Bellamy high-fived Harry Redknapp, the Tottenham Hotspurmanager, within minutes of the 1-0 defeat last May that ensured City would not be in the Champions League. Redknapp has been trying to sign Bellamy, and words such as "unprofessional" and "disrespectful" have been used among the City coaching staff. The view of City is that Bellamy has been cut a lot of slack,, rather than being the victim of what he described as a "ruthless" industry, and that if he was genuine about wanting to stay he has said exactly the wrong thing.
