Jermaine Jenas opens up on Newcastle United 'lie' - and why a trip to St James's Park was the 'lowest point' of his career

Jenas was sold by the Magpies to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2005 for £7million after making 152 appearances during his three years on Tyneside.

The former England midfielder first returned to St James's Park in the following April – and the 38-year-old recalls the relentless booing and goldfish bowl banners displayed during the 3-1 win for Glenn Roeder’s side.

His explosion of anger caused Jenas to square up to manager Martin Jol at half-time before missing an open goal at the Gallowgate End.

Jenas, speaking to BT Sport’s The Football’s On, labelled the afternoon as “probably his lowest point” in his 13-year playing career.

He said: “One of my worst moments – I’d just left Newcastle to go to Tottenham and it didn’t go down well at all on Tyneside.

"There were all kinds of lies being made up about why I had left and one of them was – I don’t know who made up the lie, I’m still trying to figure out who it was – but somebody said I said it was like a goldfish bowl up there.

"I turned up to play against them for Tottenham and 52,000 Geordies have got goldfish bowls on the pieces of paper – and all I can hear are these bits of papers, they’ve literally covered the whole stadium.

"I’m like ‘here we go’, I’m getting booed every time I get on the ball. I think they go 2-0 up in the game and I’m still getting pelters.

"At half-time, I nearly got into a fight with Martin Jol because he put me on the right and (Edgar) Davids in the middle. Davids was having one, I don’t care what anyone tells me, he was having one.

"Me and him nearly had a full-blown scrap at half-time. I realised the geezer was about seven foot tall and wide and backed off sharpish.”

Indeed, things went from bad to worse for Jenas.

He continued: "Then, in the second half, I got given the ball right on the edge of the box. I’ve got it and as I’ve turned, I’ve gone through. Shay Given has come flying out and I thought ‘here we go, ‘I’m just going to go around you’.

"I’ve gone to fake to shoot, chopped around him. I'm on my left foot at a bit of an angle and I can see Keano (Robbie Keane) square but I’m thinking ‘no, I’m shooting here’.

"I’ve gone to shoot and the minute it left my foot – you know when you hit a bad golf shot and you go ‘oh no’, it was like that, scuffed it and it hit the side netting.

"I’m down at the Gallowgate End on my knees and the whole stadium comes flying to the front and giving it to me.

"I was just like ‘somebody just take me now, swallow me up in this hole.

"That was probably my lowest point, I think."

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