Bad boys back in Toon for Hammers

In the recent roll-call of Newcastle bad boys, Craig Bellamy and Lee Bowyer would figure quite highly.

But they return to St James' Park tomorrow as major figures in West Ham's bid to land a third successive away win in the Premier League.

Manager Alan Curbishley backed his judgment in splashing £7.5million on controversial Welshman Bellamy, but he had no worries about finding Bowyer already at the club, having nurtured him since he was a 12-year-old at Charlton.

"Craig reminds me of Paolo Di Canio," said Curbishley. "When Paolo came to Charlton from West Ham, the thing that riled him more than any other was being unprofessional and people not training properly. That's like Bellamy — he trains like a trouper and expects everyone else to follow.

"And now he's at West Ham, he sees himself as the main man, the big fish if you like, and that may help him.

"He's a better player than I thought and the only problem is trying to stop him getting involved in dropping deep. When you think of Craig, you see him streaking away from the back four."

Bowyer figures highly in the Curbishley managerial story, as the Hammers boss explained: "His transfer to Leeds probably helped build Charlton's East Stand. He was the most expensive teenager in the domestic game when we sold him to Leeds, but when I came here he was trying too hard after leaving Newcastle.

"I told him to try and relax a bit more, though I can't stop him working as hard as he has always done. He's been such a prolific scorer when we were at Charlton and then when he was at Leeds. He just needed that goal to take the weight off his shoulders. He got it against Wigan and then scored a beauty last week against Middlesbrough."

Meanwhile, Sam Allardyce has admitted the pressure of managing Newcastle has made him question his sanity for the first time.

"I had the safest job in football at Bolton but it was my time to challenge myself somewhere else. I took this job to win something but I feel like I'm mad sometimes!"