Kieron Dyer Admits to Antagonising Lee Bowyer Before Legendary On-Pitch Bust Up

Former Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer has opened up on that extraordinary day when him and Lee Bowyer had an on-pitch fight way back in 2005; and it's entertaining to say the least.

Let's set the scene. The Magpies were 3-0 down to Aston Villa in front of strong home crowd of 52,000 people. The supporters had turned on their players and the frustration from the Newcastle squad was clear to see.

And then something incredible happened during the second half, when Kieron Dyer chose not to pass to teammate Lee Bowyer.

We'll leave it to Dyer himself:

"Bowyer went crazy. ‘F****** pass me the ball,’ he screamed. ‘What are you talking about?’ I said. ‘You never pass me the ball,’ he said. I told him to do one but he chuntered a bit more." Dyer explains, via Daily Mail.

"A few minutes later, he wanted me to lay it square to him. I thought there were better options. It wasn’t personal. Bow went absolutely nuts. ‘F****** hell,’ he yelled, ‘you never pass me the ball.’ ‘The reason I don’t pass you the ball,’ I said, ‘is because you’re f****** s***.’

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"I could see him marching towards me, eyes bulging. Graeme Souness was shouting ‘don’t do it’ from the touchline but Lee Bowyer kept on coming.

"I grabbed him by the shoulders and the neck to keep him off me and then he started raining in punches. It was like slow motion. When the punches were hitting me in the head, I was thinking: ‘I cannot believe he is hitting me in front of 52,000 people. What the f*** is he thinking?’

"I think he hit me four times. The punches didn’t hurt but by the time the fourth punch came in, I thought ‘f*** this’ and launched one back at him.