Official report reveals full details of Aston Villa and Newcastle’s 20-man tunnel brawl – including moans about Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall wearing a Wham! hoodie

Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall was confronted by three members of Aston Villa staff during their Boxing Day match, it has been revealed, after the Football Association released details of a 20-man brawl at half-time.

Both Newcastle and Aston Villa last month accepted charges of failure to ensure their players and technical area occupants did not behave in an improper and provocative way around the tunnel area at half-time of the match.

Aston Villa were fined £30,000 and warned over the incident, while Newcastle were hit with a £20,000 sanction after accepting the charges.

Villa analyst Victor Manas received a two-match ground ban and a £4,000 fine after accepting a charge, but Newcastle assistant Tindall was cleared of acting in an improper manner during an incident at half-time in the match.

Newcastle had earned a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa, who saw forward Jhon Duran sent off for a stamp on Fabian Schar in the 32 minute of the match.

Manas had reportedly shouted at referee Anthony Taylor in protest at the red card at half-time.

The Aston Villa analyst and Tindall were later sent off by Taylor after the fourth official reported the former had caused a confrontation by ‘shouting aggressively towards Mr Tindall which subsequently caused an aggressive verbal altercation’.

This reportedly sparked a further altercation involving 20 players and staff.

‘I witnessed Mr Victor Manas, an analyst of Aston Villa, shout aggressively and act confrontationally in the direction of Mr Jason Tindall, Newcastle’s assistant manager. Mr Tindall was positioned at the top of the tunnel heading up the stairs and reacted confrontationally with verbals back to Mr Manas,’ the fourth official’s report read.

‘Then at the top of the stairs I saw Mr Tindall come face to face with Mr Unai Emery, Aston Villa’s Head Coach, as a result of this verbal confrontation between Mr Manas and Mr Tindall. From that point the mass confrontation occurred at the top of the stairs and into the area outside the changing rooms.

‘As I got to the top of the stairs there was approximately 20 men involved. I witnessed Mr Tindall being restrained back by some Newcastle colleagues, clearly acting in an aggressive and confrontational manner.’

In their evidence, Aston Villa complained that Tindall ‘on three or four occasions was waving his finger and “shushing” our head coach Unai Emery, in a very disrespectful and antagonising manner.’

The club also alleged a member of Newcastle staff pushed their director of football operations Damian Vidagany in the back, causing him to lose balance and fall over.

Aston Villa also included a further complaint that Tindall ‘on the 85th minute reappeared within the tunnel wearing a WHAM jumper joking around with other members of Newcastle United’s staff. He then re-entered the pitch to celebrate their victory and was again involved in a tense exchange of words with our assistant head coach.’

Their submission also alleged Tindall ‘displayed this type of behaviour last season at our match at Villa Park.’

Newcastle’s submission stated Manas ‘confronted Jason Tindall in an aggressive manner and started to shout at him. Jason Tindall verbally responded to Victor Manas.

‘Unai Emery, Aston Villa’s Manager, then confronted JT by squaring up to him and shouting at him from a close proximity. Edward Howe, the Club’s Head Coach, positioned himself in between UE and JT.’

Newcastle claim Vidagany ‘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.’

Newcastle claimed Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey also confronted manager Howe during the half-time incident.

In his personal hearing, Tindall stated that he was in ‘total control of his emotions and said he was attempting to get back to the dressing room after being ‘antagonised by three AVFC staff members’, including Manas and Unai Emery.

Tindall claimed Manas had told him to ‘show some f***ing respect’ and ‘lose the finger’ in response to putting his finger to his lips in the first half, with Newcastle’s assistant stating he told him to ‘shut up’ in response.

He alleged Emery was ‘trying to antagonise me’ after the Aston Villa boss stepped in front of him, with Tindall admitting saying ‘What’s your problem?’ or ‘What’s your f***ing problem?’ in response.

Video evidence had showed Tindall attempting to return to the dressing room, but no footage showed the events outside in the foyer, where the fourth official’s view of his alleged improper conduct was said to have occurred.

The Commission concluded that ‘given the level of provocation he had received from three members of the AVFC staff in the passageway, including provocation from UE, the opposing team’s Manager, JT had acted in a remarkably calm and controlled manner. 

‘Although there was clearly some verbal exchange, JT appeared to be simply attempting to walk back to the NUFC dressing room. 

‘The Commission took JT’s prior controlled and restrained behaviour in the passageway into consideration when assessing how JT may have acted in the foyer.’

As a result, the Commission determined that Tindall’s actions were not improper and deemed the charge to have been unproven.