TAKING the decision to black-list Craig Bellamy probably didn't cost Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini too much sleep.

Suave and sophisticated Italian with a penchant for designer chic meets heavily tattooed working-class Welshman with more lip than Mick Jagger — it's not a guaranteed marriage made in heaven, is it?

Mancini eventually decided enough was enough after a tempestuous period that saw him label Bellamy "disrespectful and unprofessional" when the much-travelled forward, walking off the pitch after the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham that ended City's hopes of reaching the Champions League, high-fived opposition manager Harry Redknapp.

More recently, Bellamy had been disgusted at the way City had marginalised him, with Mancini telling him to train with the reserves and later deeming him a "disruptive" influence, according to reports.

There were other spats which led City, on Mancini's recommendation, to effectively wash their hands of the Wales international.

Bellamy isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Brilliant

He is that argumentative you can imagine him taking issue with some of the exhibits in Madame Tussauds, especially if they happened to look at him the wrong way.

But he is also a player who is capable of cutting it in the best company, as he showed when firing in a brilliant brace of goals to crown a wonderful performance against Manchester United last year.

He isn't Joe Average, that's for sure.

He never has been an individual who swims with the tide, who is easily lost in a sea of anonymity.

Bellamy says what he feels and can be hard work — very hard work, as he has admitted himself.

"If you (a manager) sign me, you're taking on more than your normal. I am simply not like other people; I have always been fully aware of that," he once said in an interview.

"I'm very demanding, I'm demanding of the people around me, I want the best, I want everything to be right. If you want a comfortable life, you don't want me. But if you get me right, you have a good player."

The question for his bosses is whether they have the man-management skills to deal with him.

BELLAMY relates a story about his time at St James's Park when he became involved in a physical confrontation at an airport with then Newcastle coach John Carver. The manager Bobby Robson was called and Bellamy initially refused to get on the plane.

But Robson put an arm around him and said "walk with me, son".

Bellamy later recalled: "So I walked with him and he started asking me about how my kids were, how they were doing at school, how was my missus. The next thing I knew I was on the plane.

"I was thinking 'how the f*** did I get here'. If he'd told me I had to get on the plane, I wouldn't have got on."

Later, Robson turned up at Bellamy's hotel room with Carver and Alan Shearer and showered the fiery one with compliments, the episode ending with the Welshman shaking hands with everyone and apologising to the coach he'd had such a blazing row with.

That's good management.

Mark Hughes and Robson got the best out of the striker, while Mancini has opted to offload him.

Yes, Bellamy comes with more baggage than Lady Gaga on a world tour. But he is still an outstanding player and Mancini's team are weaker for not having him to spearhead their Premier League campaign.

That's not good management, however you look at it.