Eddie Howe's six-word response when asked about the '20-man melee' in which deputy chief Jason Tindall was ejected
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has confirmed that a fight in the St James' Park tunnel led to assistant manager Jason Tindall's bizarre red card.
The magpies won 3-0 Villa Aston at St. James' Park in what was their fourth consecutive victory in all competitions.
Despite the comfortable score, it was an incredibly intense contest throughout.
Referee Anthony Taylor committed 25 fouls over the course of the game, but only issued three yellow cards.
However, it was the two red cards that were undoubtedly the biggest talking points of the Toon.
The first was from Villa forward Jhon Durán, who was shown a straight red card in the 32nd minute for a tackle on Fabian Schar.
Durán and Schar fought for a long ball, but the Newcastle defender fell to the ground when clearing after a slight push from the former.
As Schar fell to the turf, Durán's left foot slipped and the studs of his right foot momentarily landed on the Newcastle man's back.
Durán looked to quickly remove his foot and apologized to the referee as soon as he got up.
But Taylor was in no mood to repent and drew a red card.
Durán was furious when he came off the field and threw a water bottle into the air.
However, managers on both sides felt that Taylor's decision to oust Durán was wrong.
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“Not for me (a red card),” Villa boss Unai Emery saying.
“It's not at all. I can accept that another team asks for a red card. But use and confirm the VAR, please. Now the punishment is three games.
“His reaction afterwards was that the player regretted it. Then we can try to analyze whether he kicked him or not. I don't think he kicked him on purpose. Please use VAR.”
Emery also confirmed that Villa will appeal Durán's red card and try to have his three-game suspension rescinded.
howe understands Emery's frustrations and says: “I thought maybe he was harsh, that was my intuition.
“I was a little surprised that the red card came out.”
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Durán's red card proved to be the spark that lit the fuse, as tensions between the two management teams reached a boiling point.
Shortly after Durán left, Tindall angered Emery when he put a finger to his lips as if to silence the Villa boss without even giving the Spaniard a sideways glance.
The drama continued to unfold at halftime as the teams returned to the locker room.
According to multiple reports, a fight began involving about 20 people from both teams, including Tindall and Villa analyst Victor Manas.
When asked if a 20-man fight occurred, Howe confirmed this.
“I don't think that's too far off,” Howe said.
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“These things always start, I don't think, with the intention of them happening the way they did.
“There were probably 17 or 18 people trying to calm him down, but what it looks like is that there are more people involved.
“No one wants to see that, it's not at all how I want my players or my staff to be, but sometimes you have to stand up to what you think is right and protect each other.
“Frustration boiled over from the first half, but of course we all defended ourselves at that moment, we protected ourselves.”
Tindall did not return to the bench during the second half as Newcastle confirmed on social media that he had been sent off.
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But the loss of Howe's right man in the second half mattered little, as goals from Alexander Isak and Joelinton It culminated a great performance, started by a divine effort from Anthony Gordon.
The victory took Newcastle to fifth place in the table with 29 points.
As for Villa, they dropped to ninth place, but are just one point behind the Magpies.
