FA charge Kinnear and Brown

Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear and Hull counterpart Phil Brown have been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association following their touchline confrontation during last week's FA Cup third-round replay at St James' Park.

The pair squared up to each other following Magpies defender Fabricio Coloccini's 22nd-minute tackle on Hull forward Daniel Cousin, and have been given until February 3 to respond to the charge.

Kinnear, commenting on the incident after the game on January 14, said: "He [Brown] came across. He was having a rant, more than anything."

He added: "He didn't actually say anything to me, he was having a rant at [Kinnear's number two] Chris [Hughton] - and he wasn't saying too many pleasant things to him. It was as simple as that.

"I just said 'enough'. That's all I said. I don't know what the trouble was with the ref (Phil Dowd).

"I just said 'cool it and call it a day'. I sent Chris to sit down and he [Brown] came across and the referee came running over.

"I don't know whether my reputation precedes me, but if you look at the video, what I did do was stand my ground, I didn't do anything else."

Newcastle lost the replay 1-0, with Cousin scoring the only goal for the Tigers nine minutes from time.

Kinnear has previously fallen foul of the FA disciplinary committee since returning to management with Newcastle in late September last year.

He had to serve two matches of a touchline ban dating back to his previous managerial appointment at Nottingham Forest when he first took on the role.