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Kieron Dyer

Kieron Courtney Dyer (born 29 December 1978 in Ipswich, England) is an English footballer, of Antiguan descent, currently playing for West Ham United.

Club career

Ipswich Town

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 in order to further his international prospects, after Ipswich failed to gain promotion through the playoffs into the Premier League in 1999.

Newcastle United

Dyer was sold to Newcastle United in July 1999 for a fee of £6m, 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.

On April 2 2005, Dyer was involved in an 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 - approximately six weeks wages - as it was adjudged that he had attacked Dyer.

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

Dyer returned to first-team action on February 4 2006 against Portsmouth, Newcastle's first game following the departure of Souness. Kieron marked his first start of the season since the opening day against Arsenal with a goal in the FA Cup fifth round against Southampton on 18 February, 2006.

Dyer became the first Newcastle United player to score at the Emirates Stadium in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal on November 18 2006. In what was his first start in seven months, (since the 4-1 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light), Dyer opened the scoring in the game after 30 minutes, with his first league goal for Newcastle in over 20 months. He continued his rich vein of form, also netting against Tottenham, Bolton, Birmingham, Aston Villa, AZ Alkmaar and Watford. Following his return from injury Dyer showed his versatility by playing in central midfield, right midfield and as an attacking midfielder, supporting Obafemi Martins.

Dyer was given permission to speak to West Ham United in August 2007 after both clubs agreed an undisclosed transfer fee. On August 4, West Ham United confirmed that the deal had fallen through due to Newcastle's pulling out of the deal.

West Ham United

However, he completed a move to West Ham United on August 16 2007 for £6m, signing a four year deal. He made his debut for West Ham in the 1-0 away win at Birmingham City on August 18 2007. Just ten days later he was stretchered off after a tackle by Joe Jacobson in a Carling Cup match against Bristol Rovers, which resulted in his right leg being broken in two places. Dyer subsequently missed the rest of the 2007–08 season. His injury was re-assessed in August 2008 when it was decided that a six week specialist rehabilitation programme was required before he began pre-season training.

International career

After representing his country at Youth, Under 21, and 'B' level, his debut for England came on 4 September 1999 when he started in England's 6-0 win against Luxembourg. He then played for his country at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2004.

After almost 2 years without making an appearance for England, his outstanding form for Newcastle earned him a call up to Steve McClaren's England Squad for the friendly against Spain on February 7 2007. He started in place of Wayne Rooney (wearing the Number 9 shirt) and earned his 29th Cap. England lost 1-0 but Dyer was the high point in an otherwise lacklustre England performance. Dyer also came on as a substitute for Micah Richards in the 3-0 victory over Andorra on March 28 2007, gaining his 30th cap.