‘It was a battle of the alphas’ – Ruud Gullit went to extreme lengths to bomb Alan Shearer out at Newcastle

Kieron Dyer has described the explosive fallout between Ruud Gullit and Alan Shearer in 1999 as a ‘battle of the alphas’.

Dyer watched the pair’s relationship quickly deteriorate shortly after his arrived at Newcastle in a £6million transfer from Ipswich in 1999.

Gullit was handed the reins at St James’ Park 12-month earlier but quickly developed a frosty relationship with fan-favourite Shearer.

Tensions grew between the duo, which came to a head just five games into the 1999/2000 campaign following a 2-1 defeat at home to bitter rivals Sunderland.

Dyer recalled the events leading up to the infamous Tyne-Wear derby and described the tense feeling between the two 'alphas' of St James' Park.

“Shearer didn’t like him [Gullit] and he didn’t rate Shearer,” Dyer told talkSPORT.

“He [Gullit] was a [former] World Player of the Year and he sees all this adulation Shearer was getting and he was like, ‘He’s nowhere near as good as I was’.”

Dyer’s arrival on Tyneside was immediately tinged with controversy after respected midfielder Rob Lee also fell foul of Gullit’s new regime and was subsequently banished to the reserves.

To make matters worse, Lee was stripped of his famous No.7 shirt, which was handed to Dyer on arrival at the club.

“I always got a sense of who is the alpha and the way he treated Rob Lee – Alan’s best friend at the club,” Dyer added.

“When I arrived he [Lee] was training with the kids and he was still one of the best midfielders at the club.

“It was crazy, it was like a power trip. He [Gullit] knew he couldn’t touch Shearer. I remember John Barnes, Stuart Pearce and David Batty were training with the reserves when I first came in and now they are all getting cleared out of the club.

“It was like he was trying to play games and Shearer was being respectful. He was obviously under pressure, we were losing games and we only had a couple of points after about five or six games.”

The conflict came to an explosive end in August 1999 when neighbours Sunderland came from behind to see off the Magpies.

However, Dyer revealed the writing was on the wall in the hours leading up to the clash.

“I can remember, it was the day before the Sunderland game and John Carver, Gullit’s assistant, was giving out bibs to the reserve squad.

“He hadn’t even given Shearer a warning and it was embarrassing for Carver, who gave Shearer a bib. I’m looking and thinking, with his status in the game of being England captain and all-time leading goalscorer, you’d expect him to walk straight into the team.

“Shearer just put on his bib and trained like a demon. It was him and Duncan Ferguson in the reserve team. I’m playing up front [in training] and there was a young kid Paul Robinson who was playing ahead of Duncan and Shearer.

“We lost about five or six nil in the practice game. Shearer scored three and Duncan scored two and you’re thinking, 'Oh my God'.

“Shearer and Duncan are subs [for the game against Sunderland] and we lose.”

Dyer continued: “After the Sunderland game, Duncan said, ‘It’s a disgrace’, and Ruud answered back, ‘Well when you came on we were winning 1-0', to the pair of them and it just made it worse.

“I remember the next day we were going into training for a warm down. I always used to go in early and have my breakfast, I was one of the first in.

“Dunc and Shearer were already waiting for him by the office but he never came, because he was at St. James Park’ getting sacked.”