Lee Bowyer has revealed what really happened when he and Kieron Dyer came to blows at Newcastle in 2005.

The midfield duo were at the centre of one of the Premier League's most iconic moments as the teammates fought each other on the pitch.

Newcastle were 3-0 down against Aston Villa, with the altercation coming in the latter stages of the game.

The scrap between the two was swiftly dealt with and both were sent off, but tensions were still high as the Magpies approached defeat, with manager Graeme Souness and club captain Alan Shearer both fuming with the duo.

Speaking exclusively to Jim White and Simon Jordan on talkSPORT, Bowyer has shared his perspective of the incident, describing it as: "A moment of madness.

"Obviously people have opinions and it goes from one extreme to another, everyone puts two pence in - all of a sudden it was me and Kieron hated each other, but that wasn't the case.

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"The case is, from my perspective, we're playing in the same team and like I've said on many occasions already today, winning is everything to me. It hurts me when I lose.

"We were losing 3-0 at the time, we were playing Aston Villa. We were both competing in the same position, we were both similar players, we wanted to get forward and score goals from midfield.

"I felt at the time during the game that I was in goal scoring positions and, as simple as this is, I felt he could've passed me the ball. I could have maybe scored for the team, made the score different.

"It happened on a few occasions through the game and I was just saying to him, 'Just pass me the ball, what are you doing?', obviously it was 3-0 and it was right towards the end of the game.

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"I said to him, 'Pass me the ball'... obviously and a little bit more than that, then he said something back and we ended up walking towards each other, and the rest is history.

"Do I regret it? of course I do. Nobody wants to do that, especially on the big stage, but it's passion.

"It didn't carry on in the dressing room. There were security fellas around and they kept us apart.

"When we did get back into the dressing room, Graeme Souness was manager at the time so, as you can imagine, he wasn't too happy! Alan Shearer, the captain, he went mad as well.

"Because it wasn't just that game, obviously you don't think about these things, but we had Manchester United in the semi-final of the FA Cup and we both couldn't play in that."

Bowyer was banned for six games and fined by the FA and Newcastle, as well as being charged by Northumbria Police.

He then revealed that he took the blame for what happened, adding: "They asked me to take the blame, the club asked me to take the blame for it.

"Because then Kieron could play in the game against Man United in the semi-final. I said, 'OK, I'll take it'. If it could help Kieron play in the game, then it helps the team.

"Like I keep coming back to, winning is everything, I want the team to do well. You wouldn't think that after the actions that just happened, so I tried to take the blame but it didn't work.

"Whoever was in charge, the FA or whatever, they said 'no, no, no, you're both [culpable]'."

After the match manager Graeme Souness presented Bowyer and Dyer to the media, with the duo both issuing their apologies.

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Bowyer would eventually return to action for the Magpies before leaving for West Ham the following summer.

As he described, it was a true 'moment of madness', and it has stuck with many fans as being one of the Premier League's most bizarre incidents.

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