Kieron Courtney Dyer (born 29 December 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a first team coach at Chesterfield FC.
Born in Ipswich, Dyer played youth football for his home club Ipswich Town before going on to make nearly 100 league appearances for the club's first team. He was sold to Newcastle United for £6 million, at the time the highest fee paid for an Ipswich player, and made nearly 200 appearances for Newcastle between 1999 and 2007. A move for the same fee to West Ham United followed, but Dyer suffered from various injuries, restricting him to 30 league appearances in four seasons. After a short loan back to Ipswich in March 2011, he signed for newly promoted club Queens Park Rangers ahead of their 2011–12 Premier League season. However, his time at QPR was again blighted by injuries and he made just eight appearances for the club before being released in January 2013, spending the rest of the season at Middlesbrough before retiring.
Dyer represented England on 33 occasions between 1999 and 2007. He was a member of the England squads which reached the quarter-finals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2004.
Club career
Ipswich Town
Dyer was born in Ipswich, to an Antiguan father and English mother. Dyer's 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 had spent three years at Portman Road when he requested a transfer in order to further his international prospects following Ipswich's failure to gain promotion to the Premier League through the play-offs in 1999.
Newcastle United
Dyer was sold to Newcastle United in July 1999 for a fee of £6 million, which stood as the record transfer fee received by Ipswich Town until Connor Wickham was sold to Sunderland. 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 match ended in a 2–1 defeat, which saw Gullit resign shortly afterwards.
Under Gullit's replacement, Bobby Robson, Dyer was a key player in the Newcastle team which finished fourth, third and fifth in the 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 Premier League seasons respectively.
On 2 April 2005, Dyer was involved in an on-pitch brawl with teammate Lee Bowyer in Newcastle's Premier League match with Aston Villa, and both had to be pulled apart and separated by their teammates and Villa players. This resulted in Dyer and Bowyer receiving red cards, leaving Newcastle with eight men as Steven Taylor had already been sent-off for a deliberate handball. Dyer was handed a three-match ban by the FA for the sending-off; Bowyer received a four-match ban from the FA and was fined more than six weeks' wages – about £200,000 – by Newcastle. Later in April, The FA increased Bowyer's ban by three more matches and fined him £30,000. In 2006 the Newcastle Magistrates' court fined Bowyer £600 and ordered him to pay £1,000 costs after he pleaded guilty to sparking the brawl.
At the start of the 2005–06 season, Dyer was once again on the injured list, this time with a hamstring injury, 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 4 February 2006 against Portsmouth, Newcastle's first match following the departure of Souness. Dyer marked his first start of the season since the opening day against Arsenal with a goal in a FA Cup fifth round match against Southampton on 18 February 2006.
Dyer became the first Newcastle United player to score at the Emirates Stadium in a 1–1 draw with Arsenal on 18 November 2006. In what was his first start in seven months, Dyer opened the match's scoring after 30 minutes with his first league goal for Newcastle in over 20 months. He continued his rich vein of form, also scoring against Tottenham Hotspur, Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, AZ 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.