Caretaker Newcastle boss Chris Hughton has insisted that an ugly
mass brawl during a friendly at Huddersfield
last night showed his players care about the club.
The match at the Galpharm Stadium erupted at the break after a
confrontation between Senegal international Habib Beye and Town
skipper Peter Clarke sparked a 20-man melée. There was a later
clash too between defender Fabricio Coloccini and striker Lee Novak
as Newcastle maintained their winning pre-season run with a 1-0
victory.
However, Hughton, who confirmed that referee Jon Moss had not
been involved in his decision to withdraw Beye, played down the
incident, while promising he would look into what had happened.
He said: "I will be investigating the incident today. But
sometimes it's nice to have that bit of edge on the pitch – at
times it didn't look like much of a friendly.
"That's the nature of the game. You have got players who care
out there and sometimes they overstep the mark – but that's part
and parcel of the game.
"You would rather have a game where the players care, and that
is what happened with that incident. The referee didn't ask me to
take Habib off – I was always going to do that."
Huddersfield boss and former Magpies midfielder Lee Clark was
not unduly concerned either, although he admitted the game had been
played in a far from friendly manner.
He told the Huddersfield Daily Examiner: "It was just a
competitive match. It wasn't played in a friendly manner whatsoever
because both teams were very committed with players wanting to do
their best for their clubs.
"That's what you want. I would rather have that than a game
played at testimonial pace with no one tackling each other. Lee
[Novak] had blood on his face and a cut on his chin, but it's got
to be a contact sport. It's just football."
