GRAHAM POLL

The official line

DISCIPLINARY action is determined by national federations and England’s — the FA — are now in a position where Callum McManaman, of Wigan, cannot be charged for a career-threatening challenge on Newcastle’s Massadio Haidara. Let’s be absolutely clear: this is not a matter of application of the laws of the game and it is not something dictated by the law-makers (IFAB) or the world governing body, FIFA. What they do say is that when a referee issues a red card, the player must serve at least a one-match ban — unless it is a case of mistaken identity. The FA, however, choose not to support the referees. They overturn red cards that their disciplinary panel decide are incorrect. All too often, a former referee is not part of that appeals panel. The FA’s inability to take retrospective action against McManaman — when any neutral observer can see that they should — follows a short-sighted decision before the start of this season. The FA announced: ‘Following consultation with the game’s stakeholders (the Premier and Football Leagues, the Professional Footballers’ and League Managers’ Associations, Professional Game Match Officials Ltd and the National Game), 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.’ Yet by overturning red cards the FA do re-referee incidents and undermine officials. Good referees know that the one thing their decisions must have is credibility. Their bosses must know the same; yet the FA’s position has cost referees a huge amount of credibility.