10 Biggest NUFC Manager & Player Fall-Outs

2. Sir Bobby Robson And Kieron Dyer/Craig Bellamy (2004)

In an interview just a few months after the passing of Sir Bobby Robson, Kieron Dyer and Craig Bellamy - both then at West Ham United - would shuffle awkwardly and look at one another when asked about the former England manager's final days at St James' Park. Both admitted they regretted their falling-out with the Newcastle United legend - and that Robson had almost immediately forgiven them, and continued to provide them with nigh-on daily advice until the day he died. Robson loved Dyer and Bellamy like they were his own sons, as he did the majority of the Magpies squad, yet the pair played a huge role in the eventual dismissal of Sir Bobby. Both players refused to play in positions Robson had asked them to at the beginning of the 2004-05 season, with Dyer in particular placing a death-knell in Robson's Newcastle coffin by reluctantly appearing off the bench on the right wing against Middlesbrough. Boro twice came from behind to draw against Newcastle, and Robson lost his job just a few weeks later - with many sources claiming Dyer and Bellamy's actions have proven he had "lost the dressing room". Few managers have been stabbed in the back so mercilessly by two players they defended so vehemently - and few have ever shown so much compassion to forgive. That says everything about Sir Bobby Robson.