Exclusive – Ray Houghton: FA need to change retrospective ban laws

Former Liverpool and West Ham midfielder Ray Houghton told talkSPORT that the FA’s decision not to punish Callum McManaman for his horror tackle on Newcastle's Massadio Haidara proves their laws on retrospective bans should be changed.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the FA revealed they could not penalise McManaman for his shocking challenge as a linesman saw the incident.

And Houghton said he feels the lack of action taken by the FA is hypocritical, as they should be doing their best to stamp out reckless challenges from the game.

“For the FA to say they can’t do anything about it is ludicrous. Either they’re going to eradicate challenges like that or they’re not,” Houghton told Hawksbee and Jacobs.

“Because someone has seen it, it can’t be punished and that’s wrong.

“The FA have to send out a message that you can’t challenge like that. They need to change the laws that allow players to be punished retrospectively.

“We need to try and outlaw these challenges that can be career threatening, they’re the sort of challenges we need out of the game more than any other.

“The FA need to set down a marker to say that any similar challenges in the future are not acceptable and should be punished, whether the referee sees it or not.”