Shay Given Reveals Magpies Boss Souness Threatened to 'Take on' Both Bowyer & Dyer After THAT Scrap

Shay Given has lifted the lid on his eventful time at Newcastle United, where the Irishman made 440 appearances between 1997 and 2009.

In the early to mid noughties, Newcastle were often competing for Champions League football, but it was marred by wild stories that emerged from the dressing room which brought about the nickname "North-Eastenders". 

One of the most famous incidents was Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer fighting each other on the pitch during a home match against Aston Villa in 2005. 

In an extract from his new book entitled, 'Shay, Any Given Saturday' the Irish international said: "Bowyer and Dyer were still fuming afterwards and they would probably have had another fight there and then to sort it out." 

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"Souness put it all to bed in no time. He said: 'If you two think you can f***ing fight, I’ll show you. I’ll take the pair of you on whenever you want. Come on then, if you’re so tough. You two couldn’t fight f***ing anyone." 

Given said that Newcastle's all time leading scorer Alan Shearer had never been so angry at his own teammates than the incident with Bowyer and Dyer. 

Given also recounted the story of Craig Bellamy who wrestled with John Carver, who was then assistant coach to Sir Bobby Robson. 

Despite the off-field shenanigans, Newcastle were successful under Robson, finishing 4th in 2002, 3rd in 2003 and 5th in 2004, but his departure shortly after the start of the 2004-05 season began the decline for Newcastle. 

Graeme Souness took the job but could only take the Toon to 14th and so began a series of poor seasons for the North-East club that would eventually lead to relegation to 2009.