Are Newcastle sitting in the dock over Beye?

Posted on July 23rd, 2009 | 2 Comments |

It appears our esteemed right-back Habib Beye has been under the microscope of various interested parties in the recent days for very different reasons.

Just today, it’s reported that he is being courted by Portsmouth and Hull City for a summer move. However, in the meantime, he’s also potentially in the bad books with the FA, who it would seem took a different view to Chris Hughton and Lee Clark about the behaviour of the players involved in the ‘brawl’ on Tuesday night at The Galpharm Stadium.

Of course, Habib was at the centre of the controversy and allegedly his actions sparked the whole thing off. As I’ve mentioned previously, due to my need for sustenance, I was halfway to buying my pie when it all kicked off and didn’t really see what initially caused it.

However, alerted by the excited crowd reaction and turning to watch, what I did see was that the players looked pretty upset and though Beye might struggle with the local vernacular, should he seek local interpretation, his body language suggested he would have been saying “I’m ganna rip off yor heid and s***e doon your neck pal”.

This is the official line –

The Football Association is to investigate the trouble which flared during and after Tuesday night’s friendly clash between Huddersfield and Newcastle.

Match referee Jon Moss has included details of the bust-ups in his report, and disciplinary chiefs are now looking into the matter.

An FA spokesman said: “It has been reported to us and we are looking into it.”

Up to 20 players were involved in a melee at half-time in the game at the Galpharm Stadium after Magpies defender Habib Beye and Terriers counterpart Andy Butler and then skipper Peter Clarke became embroiled in a heated exchange.

That incident is understood to have continued in the tunnel, and there were unseemly scenes too on the final whistle with Fabricio Coloccini and Lee Novak locking horns.

To add injury to insult, it looks like he also sustained an injury in the tunnel, where the flare-up continued, and this could keep him out of Saturday’s game at Leyton Orient. Reports inform us that Novak sustained a blow to the chin which did enough damage to warrant treatment and with footage suggesting a bit of a haymaker (who’d have thought he had it in him?), it looks like Colo might also be in hot water. What odds on that game being the last one in a Toon shirt for either one or both of them?