Jonjo Shelvey must wait until shortly before Christmas to appear in front of an independent Football Association disciplinary commission convened to examine claims that he racially abused an opponent.
The Newcastle United midfielder is due to face the FA panel during the week starting Monday 19 December, when he will personally contest the misconduct charge imposed by the ruling body following allegations that he directed racially abusive language towards Romain Saïss, a Moroccan midfielder who plays for Wolves.
The alleged offence took place towards the end of a Newcastle home defeat on 17 September, and the glacial progress has caused some frustration at St James’ Park. Matters have been complicated by Saïss’s limited ability to speak and understand English, however, allied to alleged discrepancies between witnesses from the Wolverhampton team as to what precisely was said.
Should the charge be upheld, the 24-year-old Newcastle midfielder faces a minimum five-game suspension but may be banished for significantly longer. Precedents include the eight-game ban imposed on the then Liverpool striker Luis Suárez for racially abusing the former Manchester United left-back Patrice Evra in 2011.
Shelvey is understood to have a witness who supports his stance in disputing Wolves’ version of events and says he did not make the remarks he is alleged to have uttered.
The personal hearing will also offer a player said to have been taunted about his baldness by Saïss’s team-mates an opportunity to cite any mitigating factors, including provocation.
Ian Cathro, meanwhile, the assistant first-team coach under Rafael Benítez, is set to leave Newcastle for Scottish Premiership side Heart of Midlothian, where he is wanted as manager to replace the MK Dons-bound Robbie Neilson.
Still only 30, Cathro is highly rated in coaching circles and it was regarded as quite a coup when Newcastle’s former manager, Steve McClaren, lured him to Tyneside from Valencia in the summer of 2015.
Benítez, happy to have inherited Cathro upon taking over as manager in March, would be reluctant to see him leave but will not stand in his way if and when Hearts formalise their interest.
