Fresh details have emerged surrounding the explosive confrontation between Newcastle United and Aston Villa staff during our Boxing Day clash at St. James’ Park.

The incident, sparked by Jhon Durán’s red card and reportedly leading to a Villa player squaring up to Eddie Howe, has been surrounded with its fair share of unproven allegations after a heated exchange in the tunnel at half time. 

The FA has now released a write-up of the incident, revealing key details of what occurred and putting to bed the rumours. England’s governing body have also handed out fines and bans in the fallout from a comfortable win for Eddie Howe’s side, with goals from Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak and Joelinton on a merry day in NE1.

New details emerge on Aston Villa bust-up

There was a lot to unpack from the conflicting statements of Newcastle and Aston Villa, with finger pointing on both sides – something that the visitors claimed started the situation in the first place.

Aston Villa complained that Jason Tindall, “on three or four occasions was waving his finger at and ‘shushing’ [their] head coach, Unai Emery, in a very disrespectful and antagonising manner,” prompting their analyst Victor Manas at ask ‘Mad Dog’ to stop – ultimately leading to the escalation.

Some more key parts of the Villans report to the FA: “The fourth official wasn’t helpful and didn’t try and put a stop to this. On the way back inside at half-time, our analyst, Victor Manas, asked Mr Tindall to stop antagonising Mr Emery and this escalated into a heated exchange of words.

“As the situation escalated, Mr Tindall moved towards Mr Manas in an aggressive and confrontational manner and required the intervention of our head of security, who positioned himself between both parties to de-escalate the situation.”

The picture painted by the Magpies disagreed on several of the points made by the opposition, in particular how the situation escalated – claiming Manas was aggressive in his approach of Tindall and accusing Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey of squaring up to our manager during the incident:

“Following the conclusion of the first half, Victor Manas (VM) was standing in the tunnel area waiting for Jason Tindall (JT). VM then confronted JT in an aggressive manner and started to shout at him. JT verbally responded to VM.

“Unai Emery then confronted JT by squaring up to him and shouting at him from a close proximity. Edward Howe positioned himself in between UE and JT.

“Damien Vidagany (DV) (who was originally positioned in the club’s director’s box and chairman’s hospitality suite) had made his way down to the tunnel area for the half-time interval.

“DV throughout the incident was shouting loudly and confrontationally and was generally behaving in an aggressive manner. DV then escalated the incident by holding up his arms to stop those already gathered in the tunnel area from progressing to the changing rooms.

“This resulted in a large number of people being gathered in a small space. In undertaking this act, DV was walking backwards and fell into the stairs which lead up to the changing rooms. DV was uninjured but this made him act more aggressively and escalated the situation further.

“Leon Bailey joined the group of people in close proximity to the incident. LB confronted EH. This act escalated the situation further, which was then promptly resolved by the security officers from both teams.”

The game of ‘he said, she said’ was put forward to the FA and, from the action the very next day after Christmas, an independent regulatory commission saved one man in particular from tears.

FA’s conclusion and fines imposed

The FA has concluded its investigation into the incident and the decision has been made that both clubs failed to act appropriately. We have been handed a £20,000 fine, while Aston Villa must pay £30,000 for their part.

Manas admitted to his part in the actions and has been handed a £4,000 fine along with a two-match ground ban. For Tindall however, who denied the allegations made against him, there was no proof found and no further action was taken against Howe’s No. 2.

It should bring an immediate end to the proceedings, though the image of Bailey squaring up to the manager may continue in the minds of some players, with both club’s having plenty to focus on on the pitch the next few months.