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The truth behind my punch-up with Lee Bowyer: 'I couldn't believe he was hitting me in front of 52,000 people... I thought "what the f*** is he thinking?"'

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.