Alex McLeish claims he replaced Stephen Ireland during Aston Villa's defeat at Newcastle because he was injured and not due to a row.
The Villa chief spoke out following his side's 2-1 reverse at St James' Park on Sunday amidst claims he substituted the midfielder at half time following an angry exchange of words on the touchline when the Irishman was blamed by McLeish for Demba Ba's 30th minute opener.
McLeish felt Ireland could have blocked Danny Guthrie's cross and let him know, while the former Newcastle loan man clearly did not agree.
However, the Scot was adamant that Ireland's failure to appear for the second half was purely down to an ankle knock.
He said: "I know he spoke back but, at the same time, players don't like to hear the manager screaming at them from the touchline.
"But I kick every ball. I'm passionate and I care. I wouldn't be so petty to take a player off for something like that if he is doing a fantastic job.
"When Guthrie side-stepped him to put the cross in, I thought Stevie should have been making that tackle or at least put a block on the cross. "
"But it was clear at half-time that he didn't have the capacity to get close to people. He had an ankle problem."
Meanwhile, Charles N'Zogbia also had a dig at McLeish after he was replaced by Emile Heskey in the 67th minute as the French winger later wrote on his Twitter page: "First time in my life, I'm not happy playing football."