‘Moment of madness’ - Ex-Newcastle United star remembers shock St James’ Park incident

Former Newcastle United star Jermaine Jenas has opened up on one of the most infamous moments of the Magpies time as a Premier League club.

The former Nottingham Forest star moved to Tyneside in a £5million deal in January 2002 and made a memorable first start in a 1-0 win at Sunderland.

Jenas went on to help the Magpies qualifying for the Champions League for only the second time in their history and earned England caps during his time at St James Park.

But it was an incident during his final season on Tyneside that was brought to his attention in a recent interview with William Hill.

Jenas was in the United side that suffered a 3-0 home defeat against Aston Villa in April 2005 on a remarkable afternoon at St James Park.

A Magpies side managed by Graeme Souness were a goal down when they were reduced to ten men as Steven Taylor used his hand to block a goalbound shot inside his six-yard box.

But it was a coming-together between United team-mates Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer that stole the headlines as the duo were both dismissed for their altercation.

The game should have been remembered for being the first since Alan Shearer had decided to extend his career by a further season - but it the Bowyer and Dyer incident that became the major talking point.

Jenas believes the ‘moment of madness’ was inevitable given the ‘fiery’ nature of the Magpies squad at that point.

The former Magpies midfielder said: “I’d never experienced anything like that. The maddest thing about the whole thing was that every single morning we’d have round tables in our canteen and you’d have breakfast and lunch together.

“Bobby (Robson) was very serious about the players eating together and we couldn’t leave without his say-so. On my table every day were me, Kieron (Dyer), Jonathan Woodgate, Lee Bowyer, and Bellers (Craig Bellamy). We’d sit there and eat and chat every single day and got on really well.

“It was just a moment of madness, to be honest.

“But our dressing room was fiery like that. At half-time, if things weren’t going well, it wasn’t like ‘let’s see what the manager has to say’, instead you’d have a player in your face telling you to sort yourself out.

“For Kieron, it was a real shame because it’s what he’s known for. Honestly, when he was on, he was one of the best players I ever played with.”