Newcastle United appear unlikely to sue Callum McManaman, the Wigan forward, for his appalling tackle on Massadio Haïdara but they are expected to lobby for a rule change that would allow the Football Association to take retrospective action in similar cases.

The FA did not punish McManaman for the tackle which left Haïdara, a Newcastle full-back, with a potentially serious knee injury during Sunday's game at Wigan because it did not believe it was in its remit to do so. Although Mark Halsey, the referee, failed to spot the challenge because his view was obscured, a linesman who did partially see it failed to deem it worthy of a yellow or red card.

Under the current rules, unless the circumstances are deemed "exceptional", retrospective action can be taken only if all the officials have missed the incident in question.

Newcastle's managing director, Derek Llambias, annoyed that this anomaly has enabled McManaman to escape suspension, is expected to raise the issue at the next meeting of the Premier League's 20 clubs.

Should his proposal for an alteration in the regulation meet widespread approval, the clubs could submit the idea as part of an ongoing consultation process with the game's so-called "stakeholders": the Premier League, Football League, Professional Footballers' Association, League Managers Association, Professional Game Match Officials Limited and the National Game (the FA board members representing the grass roots).

After further discussions and possible refinements, it would then be presented to the FA for implementation. Although it is impossible to amend rules mid-season, any adjustments could be in place before the next campaign begins in August.

More immediately, there is cautious optimism on Tyneside that the damage to Haïdara's knee ligaments may not be as severe as first feared and hope has emerged that the 20-year-old Frenchman – who was believed to have still been waiting for an apology from McManaman on Wednesday – may play again this season. The precise prognosis will not be confirmed until the club have the results of a second scan scheduled for next week but it is understood Newcastle will not now be exploring the possibility of seeking legal redress in the form of compensation from McManaman and Wigan.

"I'm getting better," Haïdara tweeted on Wednedsay. "I want to thank all of you for your messages of support, it really touches me."

Meanwhile a 17-year-old from Ashington in Northumberland was arrested by police and later issued with a fixed penalty notice after sending a tweet to McManaman.

Northumbria police confirmed the teenager had been arrested on Monday on suspicion of making a malicious communication on Twitter.