One of the standout performers in Bobby Robson's Newcastle United side of the early 2000s, Kieron Dyer is not reticent in suggesting that his 'King of Bling' tag was undeserved.
Writing in his recently released autobiography, Old Too Young, Smart Too Late, Dyer is remarkably open about a time when he "couldn't cope with the fame, the wealth and the celebrity status"
In the public mind, I was the epitome of the Golden Generation gone wrong. I was there when the Ayia Napa sex tapes were filmed.
I was at the Grosvenor House Hotel the night when the orgy that brought 'roasting' in the English language took place.
I fought with my own Newcastle United team-mate Lee Bowyer on the pitch at St James' Park; I was part of the high-stakes gambling ring that was a big feature of England get-togethers when Sven-Goran Eriksson was the manager; and I was the dumb kid who crashed his brand-new Ferrari on a bridge crossing the Tyne and wrote it off.
And yet, the story is hardly so straight forward.
Speaking to The Telegraph, although Dyer has no desire to blame all his later mistakes and regrets on incidents from his youth, the former England international opened up on a distressing topic that has been so sadly prevalent in the last number of months; Dyer had been abused by his great-uncle as a child.
A harrowing story that Dyer has decided to reveal in his book, it was another footballing figure so often maligned in the press that gave him the initial confidence to do so:
People say a lot about Joey Barton, but if it wasn't for him, the abuse would still be a secret, and I would be going down a dangerous path, I really believe that.
While teammates at QPR, Barton had alerted Dyer to Peter Kay from the Sporting Chance charity. Taking to Kay, Dyer was afforded the chance of a "chat" that has now given him a new lease on life.
Still only 39-years-old, Dyer is now working with the Ipswich Town academy where he himself began his footballing career over 20-years ago.
