The English FA has today thrown out Newcastle's appeal against the red card handed to Kieron Dyer on Saturday.
Dyer was involved in a brawl with Magpies team-mate Lee Bowyer towards the end of the 3-0 defeat to Aston Villa at St James' Park, resulting in both being dismissed by referee Barry Knight for violent conduct.
Newcastle felt Dyer was the innocent party in the incident and promptly lodged their objections, but the 26-year-old will now serve a three-match ban, which includes the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on April 17.
An FA statement read: "A disciplinary commission has rejected a claim for wrongful dismissal from Newcastle United on behalf of Kieron Dyer. As a result, Dyer will serve a three-match suspension with immediate effect."
Dyer's team-mater Bowyer had earlier been charged with violent conduct after declining to appeal his sending off.
Bowyer now serves an automatic four-match ban, starting with Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, as it was his second dismissal this season in the Barclays Premiership.
However, the FA's disciplinary commission could yet decide to increase the punishment when they hear Bowyer's case on April 22.
Meanwhile, Newcastle chairman Freddie Shepherd revealed that, if he had the benefit of hindsight, he might not have signed Bowyer.
Bowyer came close to earning the sack from St James' Park following his on-field fight with Dyer. He was fined six weeks' wages - the maximum penalty available to the club short of terminating his contract - and warned as to his future conduct.
However, the future of a controversial player, whose signing in 2003 saw the club criticised by some fans and sections of the media, is not certain.
Although Shepherd stopped short of admitting he regretted employing Bowyer, he did say: "It was the right thing to do for the club at the time but hindsight is a great management tool."
"We certainly considered sacking Bowyer. We could have done - it was gross misconduct. But we thought a fine and a final warning was fitting."
Asked if Bowyer should consider himself lucky he was still a Newcastle player, Shepherd replied: "He should go down on his hands and knees."
