Kieron Dyer making waves at Southend after leaving ‘hooligan’ days and ‘deathbed’ behind

Kieron Dyer is recounting a tale from his time in Japan at the 2002 World Cup. Dyer, a chess fan, was looking for an opponent in the England squad. He said yes, and I told him I’d pummel him.

I’m not joking, we played for an hour and he’d moved two pieces. If that was how much he was thinking so early …” Dyer belly laughs. He then speaks proudly of his youth playing chess at school, at Boys’ Brigade and for Suffolk: “The only person I couldn’t beat was Mr Sharples – if you’re reading, I want a rematch.” His rating on Chess.com – the app “everyone who plays is on” – is an impressive 1380 and he is trying to find Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze on it.

Chess is an unexpected passion, another layer peeled back and more proof that public perception and real-life personality can be far removed. Young Dyer had a well-earned reputation for being party-prone, hitting headlines for, among other things, holidaying in Ayia Napa and high-stakes gambling on England trips. Let’s not get it wrong,” he says in a brutally honest self-appraisal.

But he always ignored the external noise. He began coaching soon after retiring in 2013, first with Ipswich’s academy and under-23 teams, then on Paul Cook’s first team staff at Chesterfield. The top job had not been on his radar, but last season he found himself clashing, in a loving way, with Cook, who encouraged him to test the water.

Dyer’s tenure has begun swimmingly, one defeat in nine leaving Southend second in the National League. The aim, with the club financially stable two years after Justin Rees’s consortium completed its takeover, is a Football League return. Guardian Sport’s conversation with Dyer is politely interrupted by regular door knocks.

His squad must complete an online wellness check on waking and are required to report to Southend’s management office by 9am to sign in. Tardiness is not tolerated. A £10 or £20 fine doesn’t mean anything – it has to hurt.” It is a tactic he has borrowed from his former teammate Craig Bellamy, who himself took it from Vincent Kompany.