Anthony Gordon decision explained as Newcastle United opt to not appeal red card

Anthony Gordon was shown a straight red card in Newcastle United's FA Cup game against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, resulting in a three-match ban for the England star.

It was a huge blow for the remainder of that game, but it was a much bigger blow that Gordon would miss the next three games which includes a trip to Wembley for the Carabao Cup final.

With such big games coming up, there were mutterings after the game on Sunday that the club would lodge an appeal to have Gordon's ban overturned.

The red card was issued after Gordon retaliated with a shove after Jan Paul van Hecke was pulling his shirt. Unfortunately, Gordon's hands connected with the head of van Hecke, which is seen as violent conduct and Anthony Taylor, not for the first time, showed red to a Newcastle player heading into the Carabao Cup final.

Serena Taylor/newcastleunited.com

Eddie Howe has shared why Newcastle didn't appeal the red card

In the end, Newcastle decided not to appeal the decision as they could see that it was likely to fail. Many pundits and even former referee Dermot Gallagher had said that they wouldn't get far with an appeal, and now Eddie Howe has told reporters that they came to the same conclusion.

"There was no intention from Anthony. Without going into too much detail on the actual event itself, I think the player [Van Hecke] sort of bends down, and it makes the push look worse.

"There's no intention from him to hurt anybody. But you have to look at it and go 'does this have a chance of being successful?' - if there's no chance of being successful, what's the point of appealing, so Anthony understands.

"We discussed it as a club, with the respected people that we need to discuss it with, lawyers etc.

"We just felt that there probably wasn't sufficient grounds to do that."

Anthony Gordon will miss his second cup final as a Newcastle player

It would have been a waste of several people's time to try and appeal the decision. If intent was a factor, that would be their only real defence, but there's no denying the fact that Gordon made contact with van Hecke's head and that's a red card offence.

Anthony Gordon now has to miss another Wembley occasion since joining Newcastle after having to sit out the Carabao Cup final two years ago due to being cup-tied.

The difference this time, is that Gordon is a huge player for Newcastle whereas before he was still getting acclimated.