Kieron Dyer named as new Southend United head coach

Dyer began his playing career with hometown club Ipswich and was given his first-team debut in a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace on Boxing Day in 1996.

He made 117 appearances for Town, scoring 14 goals, before being sold to Newcastle United, for £6.5m in the summer of 1999, where he played under Sir Bobby Robson.

Dyer made his England debut in the same year and went on to play at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea and win 33 caps in total.

He spent eight years on Tyneside although his time there featured moments of controversy including an on-pitch fight with team-mate Lee Bowyer in 2005.

Leaving Newcastle two years later, he joined West Ham United and had later spells with Queens Park Rangers and Middlesbrough before retiring.

He returned to Ipswich as an academy coach in 2014 and filled various roles before resigning as Under-23s boss in March 2022, a decision which chief executive Mark Ashton said had “come as a surprise”.

Away from football, Dyer published his autobiography in 2018 and appeared in reality TV shows I’m A Celebrity: Get Me Out Of Here and Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins before joining Chesterfield in the summer of 2023.

Soon after, he underwent transplant surgery, having been diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a chronic liver condition with no cure, in 2019, but returned to work under Cook as the Spireites regained their place in the English Football League in 2024 by winning the National League title.