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Newcastle's Shelvey charged after alleged racist barb

Reuters

Newcastle United could lose one of its promotion protagonists for an extended period of time after midfielder Jonjo Shelvey was charged with misconduct Tuesday.

The FA alleges Shelvey used "abusive and/or insulting words" of a discriminatory nature towards a Wolverhampton player on Sept. 17.

The 24-year-old has until Nov. 16 to respond to the charge. If found guilty, he would face a minimum five-match ban.

Shelvey - who has three goals and five assists in 16 Championship appearances this season - is therefore at risk of missing league clashes against Leeds, Blackburn, Nottingham Forest, and Birmingham City, along with an EFL Cup tie against Hull City.

The FA introduced the five-match minimum in May 2013 for players who are found guilty of racist abuse.

The ruling was updated in response to incidents involving John Terry and Luis Suarez, who incurred four- and eight-match bans respectively in 2011 for targeting black players.

Earlier this year, Burnley's Andre Gray received a four-game suspension for tweets sent in 2012 that contained homophobic and sexist language.

Newcastle is currently atop the Championship standings with 37 points - three ahead of second-placed Brighton.

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