West Brom ban criticised by Simon Jordan after Nottingham Forest controversy | OneFootball

The TalkSPORT pundit has compared Neco Williams’ handball against Spurs last weekend to that of Aune Heggebo’s at Norwich.

While all connected with West Brom will be very pleased at the start they’ve made to their 2026-27 campaign, there will still be one area that grates with them.

And that will be Aune Heggebo’s two-match ban, which was handed out by the FA after their victory at Carrow Road over Norwich City on the opening weekend.

While Albion managed to cope without the Norwegian for their Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle United and a home clash with Burnley in the Championship, the attributes he brings were still sorely missed, with Heggebo able to stretch the backline and use his physicality, allowing other players like Jimmy-Jay Morgan to occupy more space and do damage.

Thankfully, for the Baggies, it’s a saga that’s now behind them, but there will still be a feeling from Albion fans that the club was treated very unfairly and punished for sheer incompetant officiating.

By banning Heggebo, the FA have set a dangerous precedent for what legislates a two-game ban, with Nottingham Forest’s Neco Williams involved in a similar situation when he handled the ball over the line in their draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League last weekend.

With this in mind, TalkSPORT’s Simon Jordan has weighed in on the comparison between Williams and Heggebo and whether he agrees with the ban that was placed on the West Brom frontman.

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This all started through West Brom’s opening goal of the new Championship season from Aune Heggebo, with a flashing cross from Jimmy-Jay Morgan turned in via his arm.

Neither the referee, Tim Robinson nor the linesman on the far side managed to spot an infringement and awarded the goal, which later got intense media scrutiny and sparked a debate about whether VAR should be integrated into the Championship.

Early into the following week, the Baggies were notified that Heggebo would be banned for two games after being in breach of Rule E3.1, with the charge believed to be the first of its kind in English football, following a rule change prior to the 2024-25 season.

The FA alleged Heggebo did “successfully deceive a Match Official by handling the ball in a direct successful attempt to score a goal”. Albion appealed the following day, stating the ball took a deflection from the goalkeeper immediately before making contact with Heggebo’s arm, which affected the ball's trajectory and left him with less than 0.1 of a second to react.

However, the FA upheld the charge, and Heggebo sat out of games against Newcastle United and Burnley.

A similar incident occurred in the Premier League last weekend between Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur, which eventually ended in a goalless draw.

Deep into the second half, Forest had thought they’d grabbed the lead through Neco Williams, who bundled over Morgan Gibbs-White’s chipped effort following some rather calamitous defending from Sandro Tonali.

Aiming to head the ball over the line from a matter of inches, the ball struck Williams on his right hand, with a VAR check ruling out the goal.

As West Brom did at Carrow Road, Forest went and celebrated the goal, again sparking debate about whether Williams was attempting to successfully deceive a match official after committing a handball offence.

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Speaking on TalkSPORT about the two incidents, pundit Simon Jordan believes West Brom striker Aune Heggebo should not have been banned for his actions in their victory over Norwich City.

While he admits the evidence against Heggebo is clearer than Williams’, he says the FA should not be attempting to determine someone’s intention or motivation, as it becomes dangerously close to trying to read their mind.

Jordan said: “When you start making decisions about people’s intentions, then you’re in the territory of super-imposing what you think their motivations might be without knowing the personality, understanding the character of the individual and making out what you consider to be an informed decision.

“There was more controversy around the West Bromwich Albion goal because it stood, and not withstanding that, the goal was a goal, and in this instance, the goal has been disallowed, so whilst the player is protesting his innocence, there’s no outcome that affected the outcome of the game or created the outcome at the disadvantage of anybody in particular.”

Later on in the programme, the show would turn its attentions back to this storyline, with Jim White asking Jordan directly: “Do you think Heggebo should have been [banned]?”

Jordan replied: “No, because as I said at the top of this conversation, to establish someone’s intention is a very difficult thing to do, and to establish their motivation is reaching into their minds.”

The FA have opened a can of worms through Aune Heggebo ban

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There’s no doubt that the FA have set such a dangerous precedent through the ban of Aune Heggebo.

With Neco Williams’ handball, he won’t be at risk of a ban because VAR intervened to disallow the goal, but it would have been interesting to see whether the FA would have shown consistency in their decision-making if that would have happened in the Championship.

The second tier had a similar incident recently, incidentally, involving West Brom at Middlesbrough.

Boro’s opening goal of that game clearly showed that Will Lankshear was in an offside position. With the linesman failing to spot it, Lankshear went on to score and celebrate the goal, so West Brom fans were quite right to make the case that Lankshear should have been given a two-match ban for successfully deceiving a match official.

Now that the FA have done this, any slight controversy will open a debate about whether a ban should be imposed, and it’s so dangerous for the game to become like this, with the case for VAR being introduced into the Championship growing week-by-week.

Many view that the addition of VAR would bring the excitement and raucous nature of the Championship to an end, and it’s almost as if the FA are trying to force it through given what they’ve done with Heggebo, effectively rewatching and making decisions in the aftermath of a game.

The FA might well be looking back and wishing they hadn’t taken this action against Heggebo, with this decision repeatedly being brought back into conversation whenever there’s another controversial moment.