Birmingham City last night agreed a £6 million fee with Newcastle United for Craig Bellamy, though whether the 25-year-old would consider Birmingham an upward career move is another matter.

As of last night Bellamy had agreed to nothing and was at home in Newcastle, contrary to reports that he had arrived in the Midlands.

Bellamy had not been given permission by Newcastle to speak to Birmingham at 6.00 p.m., though that was a formality expected to change last night.

One man definitely staying on Tyneside is Republic of Ireland defender Andy O'Brien who yesterday signed a one-year extension to his contract.

Bellamy's agent Steve Horner, meanwhile, has had conversations with Steve Bruce in the past few days, but Horner agreed with the Birmingham manager that there is a long way to go before a transfer is completed. There is, moreover, the possibility that other interested clubs will be stimulated into action by Birmingham's bid.

"We will be having talks with Craig over the weekend and we hope we can convince him to come to Birmingham City," said Bruce.

This was less gung-ho than Birmingham's chairman David Gold, who said: "We expect Craig to hold talks regarding personal terms over the weekend and also to have a medical. We don't see either of those things being a problem.

"We've done our homework and the player has indicated he wants to come to Birmingham City. Steve Bruce is thrilled."

Birmingham have prematurely released news previously, though on this occasion Newcastle would be happy if the deal did go through quickly because they could then mount a cash bid for Portsmouth's Aiyegbeni Yakubu before the transfer window closes on Monday.

But there may be an element of wishful thinking in their words, as it is understood that Bellamy would prefer a loan deal taking him to the summer. Then he and Newcastle could re-evaluate their dispute. It would, equally significantly, be a time when Bellamy would anticipate having more alternatives to choose from.

One existing option being overlooked last night is that Bellamy can sit tight at Newcastle. He is on a lucrative contract and has two and a half years left on it - until midnight on Monday he is also Newcastle's face for January on their 2005 calendar.

The bottom line is that Bellamy does not want to leave Newcastle and he is certain to be regretting his behaviour of the past week.

The Welshman's argument is with the manager Graeme Souness and its scale was once again conveyed by the Scot yesterday morning, when he confirmed that Bellamy will never play again for the club as long as he is manager.

Souness will add to the bitterness in the programme for today's FA Cup tie with Coventry City. In his notes the Scot calls Bellamy "a disruptive influence from the minute I walked into this football club".

It was, according to Souness, "cumulative". Earlier in the week he had referred to Bellamy's "continual sniping" and in his notes he says Bellamy's failure to apologise to his colleagues over a feigned injury before the Arsenal game was "an almighty problem".

That led to Sunday's events at Highbury and after Bellamy called Souness a "liar" on television on Monday, there could be no way back for the Welshman.

Yesterday Souness said: "I don't think he can ever play for this club as long as I'm manager. He cannot call me what he called me. There's been no apology and there's nothing he could do to make me change my mind.

"I've looked at myself, obviously you do, and the answer is 'no', I couldn't have done anything differently." Souness then had a dig at Bobby Robson for his criticism of his successor's handling of Bellamy, while praising Newcastle chairman Freddy Shepherd. "Bobby, the previous manager, felt I shouldn't have taken this to the chairman. But I felt it was that serious that the chairman had to know about it.

"The chairman needs to know important things and I felt this was more than important. I can't ask for any more support from the chairman. It's been everything I could have hoped for."

Souness insisted that, despite the festering Bellamy situation, it had been a good week on Tyneside following the recruitment of Portsmouth midfielder Amdy Faye and Terry McDermott, the latest addition to his coaching staff, and O'Brien's decision to sign a contract extension.

Souness pointedly used O'Brien's decision to extend his stay to aim a sideswipe at Bellamy.

"He's thrown the gauntlet down, Andy," he said. "He's said 'Look, I don't care who you are signing, I'm going to get in your team', and he'll be given every opportunity to do that. That's the attitude I want here."