• Premier League

FA will not charge McManaman

Wigan's Callum McManaman will not be charged by the Football Association following his ugly challenge on Newcastle United defender Massadio Haidara.

Haidara was stretchered off following the incident with McManaman during the first half of the Premier League match at the DW Stadium on Sunday, after being caught high on the knee by the 21-year-old's reckless tackle.

However, McManaman was not punished in any way by referee Mark Halsey, who subsequently apologised to irate Magpies manager Alan Pardew for missing the full extent of the incident.

In a statement, the FA said it could not take further action against McManaman, because so-called 'retrospective action' is only applicable to incidents which were not seen by match officials during the game.

Because one of the officials at Sunday's game saw the incident - albeit not to its full extent - McManaman will not be charged to avoid the "re-refereeing of incidents".

"The FA can confirm that no action can be taken against Wigan Athletic's Callum McManaman retrospectively following his side's game against Newcastle United," an FA statement read. "Following consultation with the game's stakeholders (the Premier League, the Football League, the Professional Footballers' Association, the League Managers' Association, Professional Game Match Officials Limited and the National Game) in the summer, it was agreed that retrospective action should only be taken in respect of incidents which have not been seen by the match officials.

"Where one of the officials has seen a coming together of players, no retrospective action should be taken, regardless of whether he or she witnessed the full or particular nature of the challenge. This is to avoid the re-refereeing of incidents.

"In the case of McManaman, it has been confirmed that at least one of the match officials saw the coming together, though not the full extent of the challenge. In these circumstances retrospective action cannot be taken.

"The principal objective behind the not seen policy is to address off the ball incidents where match officials are unlikely to be in a position to witness misconduct."

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