IT WASN'T one of the St James' Park hierarchy who said this week: "We don't develop players at Newcastle. We develop people." It was the Falcons' fitness coach Steve Black, who once worked for the Magpies but probably wouldn't wish to waste his time on people like Craig Bellamy.

Black was speaking about English rugby's new sensation, Mathew Tait, who as the son of a Wolsingham vet and product of Barnard Castle School was probably a very well-rounded person before Black tried to claim some of the credit.

But the fitness guru does deal in mental well-being as well as physical, and the fact that he is the equal of Spike Milligan in talking eccentric nonsense is part of his stock-in-trade.

Perhaps the Magpies should arrange for him to meet Bellamy, who appears to be an obnoxious character but may in fact be nothing worse than a fool who has been deluded by his £40,000-a-week salary into thinking he is something special.

The fact that he inherited several deluded souls ranging from the foolish to the moronic was always going to present a problem for Graeme Souness and imposing discipline was a major reason for his appointment.

Some of the rascals, such as Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer, appear to be knuckling down, but Bellamy has surely pulled his last stunt.

Whether or not he did feign injury, to tell his teammates that he intended to do so shows a disregard for team spirit which no right-thinking club would tolerate.

At 25 he really ought to have grown up. That he so obviously hasn't has put his career in jeopardy. Someone will be daft enough to sign him, but probably not a club which can bring him the success he thinks he deserves.

IT seems remarkable that England have won a Test series in South Africa during which Stephen Harmison has slipped down the world rankings from first to ninth.

Matthew Hoggard has moved up to tenth, but they have three Aussies ahead of them and there are three more in the top eight in the batting, where England's leading representative is now Andrew Strauss in tenth place.

That's why beating the Boks shouldn't raise our expectations of Ashes success too high. South Africa might consider themselves as fiercely competitive as the Aussies, but they showed a remarkable reluctance to go for the jugular in the final Test.

It seemed Jacques Kallis was more interested in his average and world ranking - he's now No 1 - as he plodded on to 136 before the belated declaration. South Africa were 100 ahead at lunch on the final day, but Kallis added only 39 in 62 balls afterwards before they left themselves 44 overs to bowl England out.

England will come up against a much stronger winning mentality than that against Australia, but winning a competitive series in South Africa was an important step in building their confidence for the Ashes clash.

And if Harmison contributed little it will have left him determined to bounce back.

IN CASE anyone has missed me, I haven't been ill - I prefer to take my holidays in the winter and the sinking dollar made the southern States a good option.

It didn't seem that way for the first three days as the normally dry creek bisecting the golf course we overlooked burst its banks for the first time since 1969.

It was near to where the Bob Hope Classic will shortly be held, but everything has dried out since and the Americans will be keenly anticipating a second successive win for Tiger.

They made little mention, of course, of Luke Donald, who led the Buick Open by two strokes with nine holes left before faltering to allow Tiger his first win in a strokeplay event on home soil for 19 months.

I confess to liking the Americans' positive attitude to life and when it comes to service they beat us into a cocked hat. But their self-obsession can become very galling, especially when the rest of the world hasn't a clue what all the fuss over American Football is about.

In a bar last Sunday even elderly women were rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers because they didn't want the New England Patriots to reach their third Super Bowl in four years.

The Patriots won 41-27 and will meet Philadelphia Eagles, who beat Atlanta Falcons 27-10 to qualify for their first Super Bowl for 24 years. You really wanted to know that, didn't you?

Headlines about Eagles and Falcons could have led me to believe I was back in Newcastle, where their own Eagles are making a mark in that other American sporting obsession, basketball.

The Newcastle Eagles, coached by someone called Fabulous Flourney, have a chance of their first trophy for 14 years when they visit Brighton Bears in the BBL Trophy final on March 6. They won 92-87 at home to Chester Jets after overtime, but for all the American influence I don't see the final meriting a mention in USA Today.