Profile of Kieron Dyer on Famous Like Me

Kieron Dyer (born December 29, 1978) is an English football player currently playing for Newcastle United. A pacy midfield player, Dyer is a regular member of the England squad when he is not injured, but has failed, so far, to win a regular place in the starting line-up.

Dyer's football career began with his hometown team, Ipswich Town, whom he signed for as a 17 year old trainee in 1996. He broke into the Ipswich first team during his first season at the club, and quickly established a reputation as one of the top youngsters in English football outside of the Premier League. He spent three years at Portman Road, then requested a transfer to a bigger club in order to further his international prospects, after Ipswich failed to gain promotion through the playoffs into the Premier League in 1999.

Dyer was sold to Newcastle United in July 1999 for a fee of £6.5m, which is still the record transfer fee received by Ipswich Town. He was the only English player signed by Ruud Gullit during his spell as Newcastle's manager. Dyer opened his Newcastle goalscoring account at home to local rivals Sunderland, but the game ended in a 2:1 defeat, which saw Gullit resign shortly afterwards. After joining Newcastle it was not long before Dyer made his England debut - he had previously represented his country at Youth, under-21, and 'B' level. His debut came on September 4, 1999 when he started in England's 6-0 win against Luxembourg. He then played for his country at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. To date he has earned 27 caps for his country, although 20 of these have come as a substitute.

Dyer's time at Newcastle has been hampered with injury, which has also limited his international chances somewhat. Yet, when fully fit, his pace and skill is a match for any in the Premiership.

In August 2004 Dyer received a public caution from the Club's management after he was filmed urinating in public. This followed on from Dyer being named in connection with a criminal investigation in October 2003 into the gang rape of a 17 year old girl at the Grosvenor Hotel where Dyer was also staying. He also memorably crashed his Ferrari into a bridge stanchion in the middle of Newcastle.

On April 2, 2005, Dyer was involved in an astonishing on-pitch brawl with fellow teammate Lee Bowyer in Newcastle United's Premiership match with Aston Villa. This resulted in Dyer receiving a red card for that particular game plus a further three game ban. Bowyer received a more severe punishment of a four game ban and a fine of more than £200,000 - about six weeks wages.

At the start of the 2005/06 season Dyer is once again on the injured list, preventing his selection for club or country. This follows a close-season in which Newcastle manager Graeme Souness has signed a number of other midfield players including Emre, Scott Parker, Albert Luque and Nolberto Solano.

Clubs

• Ipswich Town (1996-1999)
• Newcastle United (1999-present)

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Kieron Dyer