Every loan player should have the chance to do a Lua-Lua

An investigation is under way into the scandal of the forward who scored a goal. Lomana Lua-Lua's equaliser for Portsmouth is a cause célèbre because it was struck against Newcastle United, the club who sent him to Fratton Park on loan during the transfer window. The piquant moment when he made the net ripple may reverberate in the north-east for years to come.

If Newcastle miss out on a Champions League place by a point or two, the misery will all be attributed to Lua-Lua's drive. In that event the goal might even be remembered as the incident that led to time being called on Sir Bobby Robson's career. He was indignant on Sunday, making it very clear that it had not been his choice to allow the DR Congo striker to take part.

The manager thereby directed attention to the officials at St James' Park. Was there negligence in a deal rushed through when the forward came back from the African Nations Cup in late January?

Is this just another instance of the questionable administration that has, in effect, seen Lee Bowyer's European suspension doubled to 12 games after a squad list was submitted to Uefa that did not contain his name? On the other hand, it might be that Portsmouth obtained the unrestricted right to pick Lua-Lua when they sweetened the loan with a £100,000 payment to Newcastle.

In all the hurt and recrimination, however, the absolute propriety of Sunday's events is being ignored. Lua-Lua did exactly what is expected of him as an attacker. It was absurd to find him sending his shamefaced message to Newcastle fans: "I can only apologise but they don't know what I've been through."

This is the first season in which the members of the Premiership have been permitted to lend players to one another, and the lack of proper regulation is tarnishing the competition. Virtually all the clubs are prone to the cowardice and cynicism that makes them unwilling to face footballers whom they have already deemed surplus to requirements. They are frightened to put their own opinions to the test.

The example of Lua-Lua will only deepen the trepidation because he implied that he had been motivated by Newcastle's insulting refusal to set any conditions in the agreement with Portsmouth. The forward, however, had not scored at all in Robson's team this season and so it would have been craven indeed to quake at the prospect of encountering him.

There are few paragons in this issue and Chelsea may attract the greatest notoriety purely because they have been the most inclined to dispatch men on loan. Alexei Smertin, who seems to have been bought by Roman Abramovich merely as a favour to another businessman, was not authorised to turn out in Portsmouth's two defeats by Chelsea.

Birmingham have had a pair of goalless draws with Chelsea but it might have turned nasty for Claudio Ranieri if Mikael Forssell, who has more Premiership goals than any striker at Stamford Bridge, had been in action. The tension in the 1-0 home win over Charlton would have been even more severe, too, if Carlton Cole had been free to menace Chelsea. Similarly, they were assisted in the 2-1 victory at Middlesbrough because they did not have Boudewijn Zenden to worry about.

The syndrome which Brian Glanville termed "the immutable law of the ex" will not be allowed to apply by the majority of managers so long as they are free to rig the system. Ranieri is no worse than most of his peers in his yearning to limit the risk. So far only Arsène Wenger has consistently kept his distance from this approach.

Moritz Volz and Jermaine Pennant have both confronted Arsenal this season and Francis Jeffers was instrumental in the equaliser that gained Everton a draw at Goodison. Wenger has not cursed himself for possessing scruples. He may have difficulty in seeing on-field transgressions by his players but he has 20/20 vision when it comes to discerning the proper character of sport.

Clubs have to be at liberty to select their strongest line-ups at all times if the integrity of the Premiership is going to be upheld. Why should Forssell alarm 18 clubs but not a 19th? Are the spectators not defrauded when a star is wilfully prevented from entertaining them?

The Premiership should prohibit the inclusion of these cynical clauses in loan deals and demand that managers have the guts to live with the consequences of their judgments.

Newcastle will not agree this week, but there is a delight in the prospect of a discard with vengeance in his heart emerging from the tunnel.