Kieron Dyer has revealed the circumstances of his on-field brawl with teammate Lee Bowyer when the duo played for Newcastle United.
The incident occurred in 2005 in their Premier League clash against Aston Villa, which ended in a 3-0 defeat for the Magpies, when both players were sent off for fight at St James' Park.
Dyer has admitted that he ridiculed the ability of Bowyer on the pitch, which led to the former Leeds United midfielder starting a brawl.
He told The Chronicle: "We were playing the game, he came short and wanted the ball and I passed to someone else. He was like 'Give me the ball' and I was like 'I haven't given the ball away, what you talking about'. Five minutes later he came again and I gave it to somebody else.
"And he said, 'You never pass to me!' I said, 'The reason I don't pass to you is because you're **** basically'. There were a lot of swear words. And that was it then you just saw him lose his head.
"He said, 'You what?' And I said, 'You heard me.' As he was walking towards me I just thought he was going to grab me or push me. When he was raining the punches in I thought, 'You need to get on the weights because they aren't hurting.' Secondly, I was thinking 'I can't believe he's doing this in front of 50,000 people'."
Dyer retired from football last year at the age of 34.
Simon Sinclair
