Eddie Howe encourages ‘no go zone’ policy for Newcastle United players after Jamaal Lascelles incident

A police inquiry is under way following an incident which saw Lascelles and a group including his younger brother attacked outside Chinawhite nightclub in Newcastle.

According to reports, the player’s 19-year-old brother was elbowed in the head and another member of their group was knocked unconscious during what Northumbria Police called “disorder” at around 4am on Sunday, August 20 in Newcastle city centre.

A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “Shortly after 4am on Sunday August 20, we received a report of disorder involving a number of people on Westgate Road in Newcastle city centre.

“Officers attended, however it is believed that those involved had already left the scene before they arrived.”

No arrests have been made and Newcastle boss Eddie Howe confirmed the club is dealing with the matter internally.

"Firstly, the club will be dealing with everything internally,” he said. “A couple of things really, the first thought was Jamaal's safety and the safety of his family was absolutely paramount to us.

"We believe he was sort of an innocent in the starting of what happened and was acting as a peacemaker for what happened. The other thing to say on that is that we'd prefer our players aren't out in the city centre in the early hours, I think that's natural from my side but going back to the first point, the safety of Jamaal is paramount. He's okay and his brother is okay."

And when asked if he would encourage Newcastle city centre to be a ‘no go zone’ for his players in the early hours of the morning, Howe added: "Unfortunately, probably yes.

“In this day and age with the amount of games we have anyway l'm not sure that's where we should be as a group of players and staff in the early hours just purely with the games and the profile of the players now and what we have this season, so probably you're right and l'd probably say no."

“It would be nice in theory for us to be in the city centre with our people but the reality is it's probably not the best place for us to exist late at night.”