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Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear will not punish Andy Carroll and Charles N'Zogbia after they were involved in a training ground bust-up.

The 20-year-old striker and his French team-mate came to blows during an angry exchange at Darsley Park following a late challenge.

It is understood the spat continued for some time and the pair had to be separated on several occasions.

However, the Magpies have played down the incident and Kinnear, who made his name as a manager with Wimbledon's 'Crazy Gang', will not take any further action.

He told the Evening Chronicle: "It was just handbags and it has been blown out of all proportion.

"I can't stop players being passionate, and wouldn't want to. I won't be taking any action.

"It was a very intense, excellent training session, as we always have at the club. It was a fiery session. There was a late challenge and a reaction to it.

"The players were working to the max - it was as simple as that."

The incident came just three days after substitute Joey Barton clashed with Jose Enrique on the pitch at Ewood Park as Newcastle slipped to a 3-0 defeat by Blackburn which left them just two points above the relegation zone.

The Carroll-N'Zogbia altercation was witnessed by players from Carlisle, who were warming up on an adjacent pitch before a behind-closed-doors practice match in which Denmark international Peter Lovenkrands and a series of other trialists played.

Gateshead-born Carroll scored his first senior goal for the club in a 2-2 Barclays Premier League draw with West Ham on January 10.

N'Zogbia has been repeatedly linked with a move away from St James' Park during the current transfer window - and indeed, over much of the last two years or so - after telling several newspapers back in France he wants to leave.

Yesterday's incident will have done little to improve morale on Tyneside with Kinnear himself facing a third FA charge after being sent to the stands along with Hull counterpart Phil Brown during last week's FA Cup third-round replay defeat by the Tigers.

In addition, his efforts to strengthen his injury-hit squad for a relegation fight have so far come to nothing with several senior players having expressed their misgivings over the current situation.

TeamTalk / Eurosport