Worth reading but as always the tabloids like to make lots out of very little. Dyers behaviour on the field has been excellent in general. His off the field antics(though bad for him+the club and must stop) are nothing out of the ordinary for a 21 year old!

Dyer: No more red cards By Ian Ladyman

Perhaps he saw it as the perfect opportunity to begin the healing process or perhaps he had been instructed to do so by Bobby Robson, his PR-conscious manager. But no sooner had Kieron Dyer show-ered, changed and apologised to his team-mates than he was talking of the threat to his career posed by the latest act of folly that sabotaged Newcastle's attempts to win in the Premiership at Tottenham on Tuesday night.

Dyer may be prone to the odd act of stupidity. He is not, however, stupid. Even at the age of 22, he has clearly realised that his immense talent is in danger of being permanently suffocated by a temperament that occasionally appears to come straight from the kindergarten.

'I'm still young but I have got to learn,' said Dyer, sent off early in the second half of his side's 4-2 defeat at White Hart Lane.

'If I keep repeating these things and if I keep getting sent off in the future, then something is clearly wrong.

'The manager has told me to learn from it. I can promise that it won't happen again. I'm not worried at the moment and I'm not worried too much about what England managers might think.

'I think they are more concerned about performances on the pitch. But if I do keep repeating this, then I know I will become a liability to everybody. Then my career will be in trouble.'

Dyer's sending-off was the third dismissal of Tuesday's highly-charged match and came after he chose to underline his claims for a free-kick with a verbal attack on linesman Phil Sharp.

Robson mixed condemnation with sympathy as, on the one hand, he suggested that Dyer's actions had cost Newcastle the match and, on the other, said that perhaps he might have reacted in the same manner himself.

It was a peculiar stance and one taken in the heated aftermath of a match that had featured a clutch of questionable decisions from Kent referee Steve Bennett.

Dyer accused Sharp of laughing at him as Newcastle's stand-in centre forward claimed an infringement. He did not, however, attempt to mould that into an excuse for his behaviour and what will encourage Robson the most is to learn of the sense of responsibility which Dyer would appear to be developing.

'I stepped out of line and I swore at the linesman, ' added Dyer. 'I realise that if you swear at the officials, then it warrants a straight red card.

'My frustrations boiled over but what makes me most disappointed is that the manager said if both sides had remained with even numbers, he believed we would have got at least a point from the game and possibly three.

'At the very least I cost Newcastle a draw and I have let down the manager, my team-mates and the fans. I have cost us dearly.

'I said sorry straightaway. I said it to the manager and I said it to each and every player. The players left on the pitch ran their socks off. They were dying for their shirts. I look at the efforts they put in and I feel terrible.

'It's frustrating because, when I went to the linesman about the foul, he was laughing. They dismiss you as though it's for fun. It's so frustrating.

'We have hours on the training ground and we build up for these games week-in, week-out. It's not a joke. It means a lot to us and the people who pay good money. I can't say too much or I'll get into trouble, but it's not a joke.

'It's life and death to the players. He was just laughing at me. I don't think that's right. Even Chris Perry admitted it was a foul against me but that's not really the point. I can't use that as an excuse for what I did.'

If Dyer is finally beginning to appreciate that Premier-ship football is no place for the ill- disciplined, it is an understanding that has been a long time coming.

On the field, he has not often fallen foul of referees, the instinctive, cavalier nature of his play more often that not taking centre stage. Indeed, he had never been sent off before Tuesday. But away from football, Dyer has tested the patience of Robson almost since the day the former England manager returned to Tyneside last season.

Sunday newspaper revelations about Dyer's supposed behaviour on holiday in Cyprus last summer did little to endear him to Robson.

He was persuaded to relocate from the temptations of Newcastle city centre to the relative solitude of rural Northumberland after he was the innocent party in a fracas that broke out in a nightclub in Ipswich.

Earlier this season, he was to be found privately complaining about the fact that he was being asked to operate as a striker, away from his favoured position in midfield.

None of this will have impressed Robson, nor indeed incoming England coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

At least Dyer would appear to be taking and heeding sound advice from Robson. 'I'm enjoying my role up front now,' said the player.

'I was happy with my performances against Leeds and Manchester United recently and showed glimpses of my best at Tottenham.

'I have said all along that I prefer to play in midfield and earlier in the season I was played out of position and I was a bit upset. But the manager called me in and told me it's not about individuals, it's a team game.

'He gave me the perfect advice and now I'll just do my bit for the club. We have a massive injury crisis and I'm happy to do a job for Newcastle.'

-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001