[Archived] West Ham Fined £5.5m

[CAPT KAYOS]

I agree. I'm not advocating that paying Sheff U off is right but that will be what happens. They cant be promoted or West Ham relegated on the 18th of September or any other date after the season starts can they?

Lets not get too up our own backsides here; Money is the primary concern to Sheff U even if it is via thier PL status.

Tend to agree on your thinking here but will be interesting if the case is that WHam stay up if Sheff Utd get the millions rather than West Ham.

Tris

The problem is that every stage of this farce has been riddled mistakes, and continues to be.

isn't this always the case with anything nowadays with the powers that be in football - useless the whole lot of em.

If it is as what has been reported and is to correct then to me as Modes as stated this should have been simple and all done and dusted by now and West Ham relegated - simple

[broadsword]

Not just useless Capt, they haven't got a nutsack between them.

[philipl]

I hope this is true.

It always struck me that it was all but completely incredible that Joorbachian would have the claims over the rights to Tevez and Mascherano without having legally enforcable paperwork and certainly something stronger than a deal West Ham could rip up as unenforcable because of EPL rules.

For the West Ham/Premier League case to stack up, Joorbachian and his lawyers either have to have fouled up big time or there has to be even more flexibility in interpretation of the rules. The former of course is less likely than the latter.

In the final analysis, Joorbachian has to guess the probabilities:

- no doubt if he produces the evidence, he will be toast in terms of any future involvement with the current regime but he is toast anyway as he has already earned West Ham a £5.5m fine by the way he conducted his business

- if he produces the paperwork and West Ham/PL still prevail he is in a horrible situation in that he is toast and West Ham will have been proven right in their ability to walk away with his players for next to nothing

- equally future business is hardly going to be easy if his paperwork sends West Ham down and PL top brass out of a job

- so he has got to weigh the odds and work out the best route to the money on the Tevez deal and at the very least has got to be seen not to be too easilly acceding to Sheff U's requests.

No wonder West Ham were reported to be offering Tevez £9m a year to stay at Upton Park. Paying Joorbachian a seemingly legitimate agent's fee on that little lot is presumably calculated by West Ham to make MSI neutral between enforcing the hidden contracts and being legitimate agents.

Darren Bent is taking £45K a week at Spurs rather than the £75k offered at West Ham (plus presumably less on the transfer fee). I wonder if he and his agent are calculating in the odds on West Ham staying in the Prem in making that decision?

At the end of the day, I am sure that West Ham and the PL hierarchy are gambling on West Ham's ability to keep something hidden. That's a big gamble in something so public with such passions involved.

[thenodrog]

I hope this is true.

Aha! Stop press! Scoop....... Philips a secret Daily Mail reader!

[Tris]

Sky News.

The cheating b*stards have got away with it totally.

What a complete sham - as was always going to be the case.

Disgraceful.

[modes98]

There is no justice in the world! Can Sheff Utd take this any further?

[tcj_jones]

No surprises here.

[Rovermatt]

There is no justice in the world! Can Sheff Utd take this any further?

UEFA perhaps?

An absolutely shocking decision. If the offences by West Ham were serious enough to warrant a massive record fine then why was that deemed more acceptable than an equally devastating deduction of points?

Just imagine what would have happened if Sheffield United, Wigan, or, God forbid, Rovers had been caught breaching the same rules. A point deduction would have been a certainty.

[robborover]

shambles! they were allowed to re-register him aswell. plus what he did against us!

[Paul]

The tribunal said they had "sympathy" with the Blades, while West Ham had been "deliberately deceitful" and yet remained in the Premier League

BBC Link

There's not much doubt now that any fashionable or desireable club can buy a place in the Premier League ....or at least secure the position once promoted. I've been saying for yeasr TV money has ruined this game and if anyone needed further proof this is it. West Ham gambled £5m at odds of around 10-1, good bet I reckon. Once again we see the FA / PL / club chairmen failing in their duties to protect the game. I wonder how many more nails are needed to close the coffin lid.

No doubt in my mind if the postions had been reversed and it was Wigan, Sheff Utd or any other nortern hoard of uncouth....they would have suffered a points deduction and been relegated. The problem is the biscuit-maker would have sued the PL and the season would not have started on time which would have trheatened billions of TV revenue and sponsorship. The PL could not take the risk and the Blades are the fall guys.

How much longer will they tolerate relegation? In my life time I reckon?

[den]

The FAPL findings, in full.

[broadsword]

Cockney wankaz.

[Ronin]

Roll on December 8 and March 15, I hope we give them a hiding to hell!

[Cocker]

Not that teams wouldn't normally give their all but I hope that everyone tries especially hard to give them a kicking this season. They don't deserve to be in the league anymore. The fact is the rules were broken and points were won with a player that shouldn't have been playing. They are fined 5m but get 50m to stay in the league - disgusting.

I still think Sheff Utd did have it all in their own hands however, it does leave a bad taste in your mouth

[sussexrover]

So we now have had 2 hearings into this - both of which have said the normal course of action for this would be to deduct points, but (amongst other arguments) because we dont want to upset those cheeky cockneys we are not going to administer this punishment.

And they wonder why people are turning away from the game?

[Ozz]

I still think Sheff Utd did have it all in their own hands however, it does leave a bad taste in your mouth

Indeed, moreover they battered West Ham 3-0 near the end of the season, and still managed to balls it up.

[Fife Rover]

So we now have had 2 hearings into this - both of which have said the normal course of action for this would be to deduct points, but (amongst other arguments) because we dont want to upset those cheeky cockneys we are not going to administer this punishment.

And they wonder why people are turning away from the game?

That is exactly what every single right minded football should do. I know it would be a difficult decision for each of us to take, but consider what is the best course for the long term and the ultimate good of the game we all love.

If every fan did this just think what would happen. Every ground standing empty of fans; nobody paying at the gate. The clubs would go mental and how long would it be before the FAPL was having an emergency meeting to think it through again? My guess is one week would do it. Not a big price for us fans to pay in order to get some sense and justice brought to bear. Also it would be a salutory lesson to all those who try to manipulate our beloved game and get rich at our expense.

THINK ABOUT IT!!

[den]

"Sheffield United confirms that it has received the arbitration award in relation to the proceedings regarding the disciplinary decision, date 27 April 2007, in the Tevez affair," a statement read.

"We are pleased that the tribunal rejected the Premier League's contention that we were not entitled to challenge that disciplinary decision.

"We note that the tribunal in response to that challenge, decided not to overturn the disciplinary commission's decision, despite concluding that they would in all probability have deducted points from West Ham had they been hearing the case themselves.

"We are obviously very disappointed by this conclusion, in particular in circumstances where the tribunal recognised that the outcome of the decision turned out to be "unfortunate in the extreme," and that Sheffield United have done nothing wrong to merit this outcome.

"We are currently considering these findings with our professional advisers. It would be inappropriate for us to comment further until we have had the opportunity - properly - to consider the reasons the tribunal has given for its decision.

From Skysports

[Ronin]

Or boycott going to Upton Park?!

[Mr Maureen]

Just heard that Trevor Brooking yes Trevor Brooking was on the arbitration panel.

Can't be right, can it?

[daren]

The judgement, in full[pdf], is an interesting read. The judicial panel is pretty scathing of the decision, to the point of saying that they would have deducted points themselves (a _very_ unusual thing for a review panel to do) but say that they cannot rule that the decision was "irrational or peverse" because "this is a very strict test and is very difficult to satisfy on a question very much of judgement and discretion".

There's a great deal of information on what happened before, during and after the affair in the linked PDF (above). I'd paste more, but it was scanned in and is so an image, and I'd prefer not to retype the lot. The FA tried to drop the whole affair repeatedly, but the 4 clubs protesting kept the heat on.

[CAPT KAYOS]

The judgement, in full[pdf], is an interesting read. The judicial panel is pretty scathing of the decision, to the point of saying that they would have deducted points themselves (a _very_ unusual thing for a review panel to do) but say that they cannot rule that the decision was "irrational or peverse" because "this is a very strict test and is very difficult to satisfy on a question very much of judgement and discretion".

not surprising but raises the point on that consideration alone - what the hell was the point of them reviewing it if if they couldn't do anything about the decision. How the hell can it not be irrational or peverse when a club cheats , lies and the panel even said they would have deducted points.

What the ferk is going on?

[den]

You have to wonder how the FAPL could ever deduct points, from any team in the future.

[philipl]

Exactly den... and there is still the thorny issue of what pound of flesh Joorbachian is going to extract when Tevez moves. That could blow the whole thing open again or will he move for 2p to Real Madrid where the Spanish rules seem to allow this sort of arrangement or something similar?

The arbitration panel has trodden a very sound line in so far as its role and responsibilities are concerned. The FAPL have a pyrrhic victory which could prove massively costly.

Brooking was not on the arbitration panel but his lobbying from within the corridors on behalf of his old club has firmly dislodged his halo. Questions now need to be asked about the appropriateness of a person in his position taking such a partisan stance so actively.

[Rovermatt]

West Ham are a big London club with a nostalgic tradition and an enormous, hugely lucrative fanbase. Is it any wonder they got off so lightly in spite of blatantly breaking the rules? The message that this sends out to football is that if you're a fashionable, media-friendly club you can pretty much do what you want at the expense of more deserving competitors.