Dyer lifts lid on nightmare

Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer has lifted the lid on the injury nightmare which led to speculation his lifestyle could be ruining his career.

The 27-year-old midfielder burst back on to the first-team scene with a match-winning performance against Southampton in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday in his first start since August 28 after missing more than five months through a combination of hamstring and health problems.

Rumours abounded on Tyneside that his supposed playboy existence had contributed to his problems, but in a full and frank interview in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, he insists that was never the case.

“Of course I’ve been terribly depressed and close to tears many times,” he said. “It’s been hell and on occasions seemed never ending – but I’ve always clung to the belief that my career isn’t over and that I’ll play regularly again.

“To suffer with an illness that affects my hamstrings and general fitness has been a nightmare, a problem on top of a problem.

“This season has been wrecked, it’s been a huge chunk out of my career over something I could do nothing about, which is why all the emotion came tumbling out of me when I scored on Saturday.

“I’ve travelled all over the place, here and abroad, seeking the answer.

“I know about the rumours and they are ridiculous but what can I do about it? The club issued a statement and I have to abide by that – but it’s nothing I could have avoided.

“My private life should be respected and remember, it’s my career that’s suffering. The trouble has been that the medication I was taking for my illness adversely affected me physically.

“It slowed down my recovery from any hamstring injury, which for an athlete is killing.”

Dyer travelled the world looking for a solution, and eventually found it at the Olympic Medical Institute in Harrow, where a change of medication and a programme of exercises to strengthen muscles which were causing strains to his thigh and hamstring when he was running were recommended.

“Our physios, Derek Wright and Paul Ferris, kept me going in my darkest hours,” he admitted. “They have repeatedly told me that in 20 years they have never known a player finished by a muscle injury. They have been brilliant, they have kept me believing.”

Meanwhile, Dyer has admitted former boss Graeme Souness helped him to re-focus as he struggled to fulfil his potential while making the transition from his working class background in Ipswich to super-rich Premiership star.

“To go from that to having a right few quid in your pocket, a big car, and genuine fame would turn most heads,” he said. “Most would go off the rails a bit because underneath, we are just like ordinary young lads in their teens.

“As you get older, you realise that more and do something about it. However, the mistakes of footballers are made in public, the mistakes of ordinary guys in private.

“It’s Souness who has rescued my career. I know what the fans think of him, but for me personally, he was great.

“At our first meeting, he pulled me to one side and said: ’I can look in the mirror and know I gave my all as a player. Can you do that?’ I didn’t think I could.

“He was always on top of me, always keeping a grip, but he got me going and supported me over the thing with Lee Bowyer.”

Dyer’s career at Newcastle looked to be over before Souness arrived at the club when he infamously refused to play on the right wing at Middlesbrough for former boss Sir Bobby Robson, although he insists the full facts were never made public after he had earlier volunteered to play out of position when an unnamed team-mate had refused.

“I was slaughtered by the fans, and I can understand why,” he said. “But they didn’t appreciate what had gone on because they didn’t know. I loved Bobby - he was like a father to me – but on this occasion, I felt he let me down.”