Lee Bowyer's 16-month stint in charge of Birmingham is over after he was axed as manager.
He was informed of the decision by club officials after a pre-season training session on Saturday morning. Whilst the Blues only finished two places above the Championship relegation zone last season, Bowyer was largely praised for keeping them in the division amid a glut of off-field concerns.
His removal as manager comes as a slight surprise given the club's owners are in the process of trying to sell the club. But the controversial manner of his exit from St Andrew's is nothing compared to one particular incident from his playing days.
Back in April 2005, Bowyer was involved in a scarcely-believable on-field altercation with a teammate. He and fellow Newcastle midfielder Kieron Dyer came to blows following an innocuous incident in a Premier League game against Villa at St James' Park.
The story goes that Bowyer believed his colleague had refused to pass him the ball. He let out a comment at Dyer who responded and it ended with fists flying and both men shown a straight red by a clearly confused referee Barry Knight. The pair had to be separated by players from both sides and the 52,306 in attendance were left bewildered by what they had witnessed.
The fall-out not only saw bans and fines for both players but they were dragged out to the post-match press conference by then Newcastle manager Graeme Souness like naughty schoolchildren.
"It was a moment of madness. Everybody regretted it afterwards," said Bowyer years later when asked to recall his memories of the incident. Me and Kieron competed all the time for the same position, it was nothing personal.
"It should never have happened. But we are winners. When you play football, you have to be that way. You have to want to win. Sometimes it goes too far - that's what happened that day. I'm sure if we'd been winning 3-0 it would never have happened."
As for Dyer, he touched on the flashpoint in his 2018 autobiography: "I could see him marching towards me, eyes bulging. Graeme Souness was shouting 'don't do it' from the touchline but Lee Bowyer kept on coming.
"I grabbed him by the shoulders and the neck to keep him off me and then he started raining in punches. It was like slow motion.
"When the punches were hitting me in the head, I was thinking: "I cannot believe he is hitting me in front of 52,000 people. What the f*** is he thinking? I was trying to let him punch himself out. I thought it was just going to be handbags. It's the kind of thing that might happen in training but not in a match. No one in their right mind would do that — but Bow had lost his mind.
"I think he hit me four times. The punches didn't hurt but by the time the fourth punch came in, I thought 'f*** this' and launched one back at him."
Having just been given the elbow by Birmingham, ex-Charlton boss Bowyer could do with a pal right now. And thankfully Dyer says the pair have long made up and that they still stay in touch.
Speaking to Sky Sports in 2020, Dyer added: "Lee was a fiery character. He was a great friend and someone I still speak to."
