Angry Bobby Robson has slapped a pay freeze on Didier Domi and suspended his Newcastle full back for going AWOL.

Robson showed little Christmas goodwill yesterday when he rapped "no play, no pay" just 24 hours after hitting his French rebel with a £30,000 fine.

It means Domi, currently living with his mother in Paris, will not get a franc out of Newcastle while he persists with his stay-away protest after walking out on the club a week ago.

The 22-year-old defender is believed to be frightened of coming back to Tyneside after allegedly labelling Robson's training methods 'old-fashioned.'

But that cut little ice with the Newcastle boss yesterday. Robson said: "If he fails to meet the terms of his contract we will continue to suspend him without pay.

"What he did has affected him and it has all rebounded on him. I have never experienced anything like this as a manager.

"It find it difficult to understand and I have no sympathy for him.

"But the longer he leaves things like this the worse they will become.

"I have rung his telephone and left messages but so far I have failed to make contact. His Yugoslav agent Branco Stoichic has flown over to talk about the situation and he's a bit embarrassed.

"But we can't do anything until Domi comes back.

"I've told the agent to tell him that he might play against Manchester United and David Beckham in front of 52,000 fans next weekend. If that does not stir him nothing will."

It had been understood that Domi had been given permission to return to France last weekend after being left out of the squad against Bradford.

But Robson revealed that was not the case. "He went back home without telling us and the first we knew was when he failed to come in for training on Monday," he said.

"We have been chasing him ever since without success.

"But we have too many other things to think about without going on all the time about him."

Newcastle's worry is that Domi could decide to walk away from the game altogether, just as his friend Nicolas Anelka threatened to do during his dispute with Arsenal.

But hopefully common sense will prevail because Robson considers Domi to be a very good player and admits he needs him over the hectic holiday programme because of Newcastle's injury position.

"We are on eggshells at the moment," he said.

The latest casualty is Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano, who has dropped out of the squad for today's game at Derby because of a groin injury.

Solano hopes to be fit to face Leeds on Boxing Day. Suspended midfielder Gary Speed will also be available for that game after missing out today.

Robson warned: "We are trying to get by but every time we suffer a mishap it weakens the wall.

"If it came to a crisis situation the club would need to move in the transfer market and I'd make sure that happened.

"In the meantime I'm just glad that Alan Shearer is soldiering on. If we lost him it really would become precarious."

Fit-again winger Stephen Glass, who scored in the 3-2 home win over Derby earlier in the season, is pushing for his first start since early September.

And South American pair Clarence Acuna and Cristian Bassedas both play with instructions from Robson to show what they can do following criticism of the club's foreign imports.

"I want them to shut people's mouths and they have the character and quality to do it," he said.

Robson added: "People have forgotten how wonderfully we have done over the last 15 months and if we got Carl Cort and one or two other key players back to full fitness we would really be able to push ahead.

"At the moment it's just a question of hanging on."

Cort had another specialist's check-up yesterday and Newcastle hope that the £7m striker will be given the go-ahead to start training with a view to a comeback in five weeks