By Matthew Jones
December 7 2004

Kieron Dyer has vowed to give something back to manager Graeme Souness, who continues to play him despite many fans not wanting him in the squad. Dyer also mentions his fitness - he isn't far off being fully fit again.

The England international is hoping to produce the goods on the pitch to prove to Souness that he deserves a place in the starting XI.

Newcastle United suffered a 4-0 defeat at Chelsea on Saturday, and I think it is fair to say that Dyer was one of our star men. Dyer's performance was one of the only positives to come out of the game - and yet some fans would still rather see him dropped. Sections of fans still hold a grudge against him for refusing to play out of position at the start of the season.

Thanking his boss, Dyer said:

"I'm extremely grateful to the manager for playing me at the moment, because I am aware that there are a lot of fans who don't want me in the team.

"I'm thankful to the manager for including me, and I hope to reward him by doing the business for the team.

"He has shown a lot of guts to play me, and I want to repay him.

"I'm still not quite there in terms of fitness at the moment, but I'm getting there and the only way my match fitness will come back is by playing games.

"I was breathing a bit towards the last 20 minutes of the game at Chelsea on Saturday, but as I said the fitness is coming on and I'm not too far away."