On this day in 2005 Newcastle team-mates Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer were sent off after fighting with each other during a 3-0 loss to Aston Villa at St James’ Park.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at the brawl, the consequences and the players’ take on it further down the line.
The incident
Graeme Souness’ Magpies, already reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of Steven Taylor for handball, had just gone 3-0 down via an 80th-minute Gareth Barry penalty when the remarkable skirmish broke out. An argument between Bowyer and fellow midfielder Dyer rapidly escalated as the former approached the latter and they began to scrap, with punches being thrown. Players from both sides intervened and the pair were dragged apart – Bowyer’s shirt was seen to have been ripped down the front – before referee Barry Knight showed each the red card.
Post-match comments
The post-match press conference saw Bowyer and Dyer sit either side of Souness and each issue an apology. After the players departed, the manager then said he felt Bowyer was “indefensible”, adding: “I think he is guilty, as the pictures show, of throwing more than one punch and he has to accept whatever punishment comes his way.” Regarding Dyer, Souness said he had been assured by the former Ipswich man he “did not throw any punches today, that he was on the receiving end”. He also stressed there would be “internal discipline”.
Bans and fines
Bowyer initially faced a four-match ban for what was his second sending-off of the league campaign, and, after he admitted using violent conduct, it was subsequently extended to seven games by the Football Association. He was also given a £30,000 fine – that was on top of Newcastle fining him six weeks’ wages, estimated to be around £200,000. Dyer served a three-match suspension after the FA rejected the club’s appeal against his red card. The following year Bowyer, who had just moved on to West Ham, was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs after pleading guilty at Newcastle Magistrates Court to using threatening behaviour.
Later reflections
In 2014 the two men – who ended up as team-mates at West Ham as well – were quoted by The Chronicle giving their take on the incident. Bowyer described it as “a moment of madness”, while Dyer said of the point at which things boiled over: “He (Bowyer) 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.” Dyer also claimed Souness told them in the dressing room: “If you want to fight I’ll beat both of you.” Bowyer and Dyer both emphasised they were now on good terms, with the latter saying: “We are friends. That’s just the way Lee was. But I still want to beat him up.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here