Eight months on, the Welshman is now a Blackburn player and desperate to play against Newcastle when the two clubs meet at Ewood Park tomorrow.

Michael Owen’s £17m (€25m) arrival from Real Madrid finally plugged the gap left by Bellamy and while McDermott admits the 26-year-old has been missed on the pitch, he is adamant that there was no alternative.

“The manager knew what he was doing,” he said. “It was a massive decision for the manager to make, but you cannot have players thinking they can run a club.

“Craig Bellamy is a good player, Craig Bellamy is very, very quick, I have got no doubts about that, and over the last three or four months we have certainly missed him on the pitch.

“But the manager made his stance and was justified in doing so, and now he has brought Michael in we have got real quality and pace to replace him.”

Alan Shearer will run out against his old club looking for a first Barclays Premiership goal since February 2 with his side 19th in the table with just two points from their first five games.

Shearer and Owen saw little of the ball in the disappointing 1-1 draw with Fulham, the first time they had linked up since their time together in the England side.

However, Souness has warned that the 35-year-old Shearer should not be written off.

“He has been the greatest striker this league has known and okay, he is having a bit of a dry patch at this moment, but if I was a gambler, I would not bet against him scoring on Sunday against his old team,” he said.

“It is one of those things he is going through. When we were talking to Alan about signing for another year we made it plain he was not going to play in every game, and up until now we have not had the players available to us to rest him.

“He has had to play all the games – and 90 minutes in all the games apart from a couple in pre-season.

“To be honest, we are asking a lot of a 35-year-old. This is an extremely competitive business and when we get some more people fit, we can maybe look to give him an hour or give him 45 minutes, and that is our intention as the season goes on.

“Right now, we are asking a great deal of him, but he will be excited about playing with Michael Owen. That, I am sure, will give him an extra buzz.”

Scott Parker is suspended while Nolberto Solano, Emre and Kieron Dyer will miss out again and Albert Luque has been sidelined for up to 10 weeks with a ruptured hamstring.