Assistant referee Darren Cann has been dropped from Crystal Palace's FA Cup tie against Manchester City after Cup chiefs flagged his playing history with the Eagles.
Cann, 47, was a promising young striker in Palace's youth teams in the late 1980s before moving into officiating – but was still surprisingly named to assist Mike Jones in Saturday's fourth-round clash.
The Norwich-born linesman will be replaced by Mick McDonough after the Football Association were made aware of the issue. Jones will still referee the game.
City are understood not to have made a complaint about the assistant's selection.