The English FA may seek to extend the ban handed to Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew.

The Daily Mail says the FA were are considering appealing against an independent disciplinary commission for the second time in a week after Newcastle manager Alan Pardew escaped with a seven-match ban for butting Hull's David Meyler.

The punishment, made up of a three-match stadium ban and a four-game touchline suspension, is a record for a Premier League manager but it is sufficiently lenient to spare Pardew further censure from Newcastle amid fears that he was in danger of being sacked by owner Mike Ashley.

But any sense of relief could soon disappear if the FA choose to appeal when they receive the written reasons for a judgement that has left Wembley officials slightly baffled; not least the decision to split the suspension between a stadium ban and a touchline one.