NEWCASTLE UNITED boss Alan Pardew has called for a review of the refereeing system after feeling let down by the way the Football Association dealt with the tackle which could have wrecked Massadio Haidara’s season.

It is almost two weeks since Callum McManaman’s nasty challenge on Haidara’s knee sparked unsavoury spats between the Magpies and Wigan Athletic amid fears on Tyneside that their January recruit had sustained knee ligament damage.

And, while scans later revealed the player had suffered merely bruising, Pardew thinks the whole situation could have been avoided had a better structure been in place to give the officials greater protection.

Referee Mark Halsey has been dropped from the list of Premier League referees for this weekend’s round of fixtures in the wake of the incident after informing the FA that he had not seen McManaman’s tackle as his view was blocked.

Halsey’s admission, coupled with assistant Matthew Wilkes’ claim there had been a coming together of the players in his report, meant no retrospective punishment could be taken on the 21-year-old.

And Pardew said: “I’d be very interested to know how often Mark Halsey, the referee, has worked with the two linesmen on the day. I think they should be a team that travel around together and work together and therefore can trust each other 100 per cent.

“My football team are a team. We work closely together. So at a professional level, in the Premier League, the referee, two linesmen and the fourth official should officiate at every game as the same team.

“And the fourth official would then have a relationship with the referee and also the linesmen. So those who turn up at games to assess the performance can assess them as a team.

“I think plucking two linesmen to work with a top class referee like Mark Halsey is wrong. I don’t know when they last worked with him. Linesmen would get to know the referee’s personality. They will know how they will react.’ Newcastle maintain there has been no official apology from the DW Stadium, where Wigan’s owner Dave Whelan has since suggested that McManaman had got the wall ‘clean as a whistle’.

Pardew said: “I can understand them wanting to protect their player, but I would be interested to know what they would have thought if it was Cheik Tiote on James McCarthy, their outstanding young midfield player. But it is what it is. It’s done and we move on to another game.”

While Haidara could be back to figure in the Europa League quarter-final first leg at Benfica next Thursday, the highly-rated full-back will not be considered for tomorrow’s trip to Manchester City.

His absence has grown in significance following news both Davide Santon and Mathieu Debuchy will also be unavailable for the trip to the Etihad Stadium because of respective thigh and hamstring problems.

It means Pardew must consider his options on the flanks of his defence, with recalling Danny Simpson seemingly a certainty despite his likely departure at the end of his contract this summer.

“My options are that Danny Simpson will come back in,” said Pardew. “Vurnon Anita can play there as can Jonas Gutierrez and James Perch. There isn’t too much doubt in my mind that Danny will play. He can play at that level, knows what we are about and trained really hard this week.

“He is determined to get himself a contract next season and he should have no trouble doing that in the Premier League, whether it’s here or at some other club. Danny has plenty to play for and I’ve no doubt he will put in a strong performance.

“I think it’s unlikely Danny will stay, if I’m honest, with Debuchy, Haidara and Davide here. I always say you can never tell because one performance can change a lot of peoples’ opinion. He has eight games, maybe ten, maybe more, to stake a claim.”

Encouraging news that Fabricio Coloccini and Tim Krul are edging closer to a return was tempered last night by news that midfielder Cheik Tiote could be sidelined for a couple of weeks with hamstring trouble.

Pardew, who revealed Hatem Ben Arfa’s troubled hamstring does not require surgery, admitted: “We have been a bit unfortunate going into this game. It looks like Cheik has pulled or at least strained his hamstring. He will have a scan, but we are sweating on him for Thursday and the derby with Sunderland.”