Sheffield United - Can we have our money now please?

Well, the High Court have said that West Ham can't appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. So who will they appeal to now? Sir Trevor Brooking? Alf Garnet? Father Christmas? Or will they finally cough up?

We've heard all the arguments. "Sheffield United weren't good enough." That's true enough. So does that make the fact that West Ham lied alright then?

If it hadn't been us then it would have been Wigan, and that wouldn't have been fair either. "We've been fined five and a half million. Which is loads." And that's a hell of a huge price to pay for Premier League survival, isn't it. Not really, no. "You are rubbish and moan, and Chris Morgan is a thug." And what's that got to do with the price of lying? "Tevez didn't keep us up on his own." Maybe, maybe not.

But here's the rub.

West Ham lied.

They got caught.

One of the injured parties decided to do more about it than the FA.

West Ham have been found guilty, and don't like it. Tough. They could always have tried telling the truth.

Now they can try finding the cheque book and writing £30,000,000 payable to Sheffield United. Or cash, we don't mind.

Richard Martin

www.sheff-utd.co.uk/forum

Comments

[Dean]

Sheffield United were not good enough to remain in the Premiership, Fact. This ruling could open the floodgates for future litigation, No club is safe. Whats happened to our beloved game? To say one man is responsible for the relegation of Sheffield United is an insult. Does this ruling now mean that every club in the Premiership that lost points to West Ham have a genuine legal case to Sue stating that it affected their position in the Premiership. Does the Burger Wagon Man at Brammall Lane sue for lost proceeds due to smaller crowds in the Championship? West Ham have paid a fine already, Leave them be you sore losers!

[Stuart Greig]

Really there are only 3 points (see what I did there?) that matter here:

1. WHUFC brought the issue of Tevez' registration to the attention of the PL
2. Tevez was at no point "ineligable" to play for WHUFC, is it possible anyone from Sheffield can understand that?
3. Under FA rules we had no choice but to go to arbitration.

So, for the love of god can you please all stop spouting the same inacurracies every single time. If you want to put forward a rational argument without relying solely on what you read in the tabloids then please do so. Until then anyone even slightly better informed than a 12 year old will view you with the distain and contempt you deserve.

[Ed Balls]

for the record i'm a neutral (feels like it must be said to avoid partisan name calling - i'm a man u fan) and i personaly think SU have come out of this worse than WHU...i don't believe its greed, i believe they are motivated by a sense of injustice but the plain and simple truth remains that it was in SU hands on the last day of the season...and they lost. 3-0 if i remember right! it is something they really need to get over and move on with....Almost every great sporting triumph has been achieved with some aggrievment or injustice to wrong at the heart of it....Man utd are so loved worldwide for the way we built ourselves up after the Munich air crash...and our 1st title win under SAF was done after we felt we had unjustly missed out the year before....Nadal beating feder in this years wimbledon was done after he lost to the same opponent on the previous 2 occasions...Lewis Hamilton winning on the last day after losing on the last day the year before....No doubt Chelsea will one day win the european cup and it will taste all the sweeter because they feel they should have won it last year (wrongly tho in my op!!)....This is what great men, great teams do and what makes great sport....If SU get promoted back up in a few years it will feel amazingly sweet because of the percieved aggreivement ...and thats what they should be doing..striving to be better in future!!! but instead their players (the same ones who got them relegated) are thinking of claiming compensation!!!!...give me a break!!...its pathetic...knuckle down and use it to power yourself to the top..thats what all great sportsmen do!...what achievement would it be to bankrupt WHU??? would THAT be a great day in SU history??...if so, its very very sad

[Mullarkian]

Who cares anyway?
It's only about 11 highly overpaid tossers kicking a ball about.
Shankly amused me years ago when he was under the impresiion that football was more important than life and death, that was good coming from a club who's supporters seem to prefer squash.

[Hang Dog]

Am I the only one that considers that any team managed by Neil 'Colin' Warnock complaining about others cheating is perverse?

[Larry]

when are people going to understand that this has been right from day one only ever about money and never been about fairness and justice.

Also as as so often Sheff Utd, fans are as usual ignorant of the facts West Ham, did not agree to the FA Arbitration. Under FA rules we were given no choice and were forced to take part.

[Keith B]

OK Sheff Utd fans - let's see you answer the following, without resorting to the phrases 'Just pay up', 'you were caught, £30m please' or any other witty reply which simply accentuates how uninformed and just plain malicious you are.

1) How do you explain the letter sent out to all Premier Clubs (and you, arf!) by Richard Scudamore stating unequivocally that Carlos Tevez was always eligible to play for West Ham United?

2) Where is your actual evidence that the third party agreement remained in place after the £5.5m fine?

3) Why do you presume that Tevez going to Man Utd was aresult of that 'agreement'? Players leave WHU all the time for bigger clubs, even when we don't want them to go. Rio, Cole, Carrick, Defoe, Benayoun...that's just off the top of my head.

4)Given that we've established Tevez was NEVER ineligible to play, exectly what precedent do you have for the automatic deduction of points?

More to follow, let's just see if any of you money-crazed 'fairness in football' types can answer these four effectively...

[Tom]

1. If WHU lied again, why did Kia Joorabchian threaten to take them to court after he wanted to move CT to Man U? 'West Ham kept lying' is an unsubstantiated rumour.

2. Even if WHU continued to lie, it's nothing to do with Sheffield United.

3. Tevez was always a registered, eligible player.

4. Kabba - although irrelevant (I agree) it was on both teams websites that there was a clause in his contract.

Yet West Ham owe Sheffield United £30, £50, £60 million apparently.

And "who are West Ham going to appeal to now?" - so SU never kept appealing til a decision finally went their way?

[clint]

West Ham should have been deducted 3 pts as this would have made no difference to the final out come. West Ham would have gained the required points to stay up as worthy teams manage to do. SU would have still failed to stay up but would have had to look else where for an excuse for their mediocre and moronic performances. As cream rises to the top, so the sediment settles on the bottom. Sediment United need to face up with being the joke that they are and start looking for their next excuse for failure.

[Richard Dow]

I'll re-iterate this point again why does the richest domestic league in the world agree to this farcical system of loan and 3rd party agreements?

This is a self governing league via the auspices of the F.A. run by a Chief Exec. who is responsible to a league management board. Why have all the others clubs not been up in arms??
Because one day they might need a Tevez or a Howard and they want this facility to use.

[Adam Smith]

to all the folks saying it's boring: then please, tune out instead. this isn't entertainment, you know, like those saturday night tv shows you morons are glued to...it's a fine case of law.

the only time justice gets boring is when you're doing time and they dont let you watch the x factor cos it makes you all excitable. you lot all complaining it's getting boring are excitable and cant control your perspectives; like my 4 year old daughter in fact. people with composed persepctives get rich, like lawyers, like me. most of those opposing the line of justice sounds a bit thick, and are probably a bit poor. screaming and shouting that they are bored makes them seem to claim a bit of authority that they'll never have.

ok...im a neutral and it's entirely correct the blades should have a go. the court upheld them and this is a democracy. west ham blatantly lied in one of the most corrupting instances of forgery ive seen in sport.

it's an attempt at justice, is all. if it fails then so be it.

and to those who say blades wouldnt care if wigan went down; i believe this process began with a commitee made up of teams still in the premiership. naturally people are ignorant of the facts and say ignorant things. why do u all speak ignorantly when you don't know th efacts? think about that. you all sound like tabloid fodder, and most of those are written by hammers fans. did you know that?

the best thing about football fans in my opinion is that you're all being sold down the river by owners laughing at your bestial virtues of following the herd. if west ham have to pay; they'll just rip the fans off to pay it anyway.

[SUGAR RAY]

That's 8 million football income per YEAR, add that to tv monies and all of the other income and you got a hell of a lot more than £30m.

Pay up.

[celtichammer]

Its all too late Blunts, we have no money, the credit crunch has hit Icelandic owners you can whistle for your cah, I would rather we went into administration and set up again as the Thames Ironworks! Would only take afew seasons to get back in the Prem as we have a bigger and richer support than you ex mining ex steel working saps! And hey, it will be fun to play Millwall on the way up!!! Press on Ammers!!

[Sean]

This sets a very dangerous precedent for football.

If you gain an advantage over another club by lying, cheating and breaking the rules then you are liable to a large compensation claim.

This sets a very dangerous precedent for all those who wish to get away with or justify lying, cheating and rule breaking.

[mark]

"The results showed that the Yorkshire club suffered a drop of about £8 million in income from their football activity after being relegated from the top flight two seasons ago."

so there you have it. 8 million. not 30. 8. SU will be lucky to get 5.

[Terry]

3rd party influence was that Tevez could be sold either in the January window or summer. Therefore last 3 games was irrelevant whether contract was cancelled or not.

Tevez was always a registered player

The FA does not have a similar third party clause for their members therefore the FA could not have docked WHU 10 pts or apply fines.

This third party clause was to ensure that two clubs in the PL could not be owned by one person/company. If it was meant to include individual players then loan players between PL teams would not be allowed.

Also this clause could make any arrangements between PL clubs about non availability of players against their old employer invalid. Remember verbal agreements are accepted in a court of law.

WHU were the first club to be taken to task under this rule and therefore no precedent penalty existed.

[Ron Naylor]

Not sure of all the facts, but if West Ham are guilty of lying then surely any fine should be not be paid to Sheffield because they were not the party injured by the lies. They paid the penalty of relegation because thay were in one of the relegation positions at the end of the season. It is impossible to prove that they finished where they did because of Tevez playing for West Ham

[FEZ]

SU should just get back up the hard way and shut the hell up no one else wants them in the league becuase they play horrible football. if that player hadn't of hit the post in the final game they would of stayed up.

it was a one on one and he should have scored. why does no one blame him?

West Ham beat United that was a great effort they deserved it more than SU

Jarryd Cole 13 years old Man Utd supporter in Australia.

[Dave the Gooner]

SU fans, I don't think I'm the only one who objects to you calling what West Ham did 'cheating'. The Hand of God was cheating; hacking down a player who is through on goal is cheating; failing to comply with a stupid law invented by jobsworths who haven't enough to do is, in comparison, a minor peccadillo.

Anyway, since when was life, or football, fair? Trying to buck the system by suing people isn't how it's done. That really is cheating, whether or not you can cludge together half a case and con some panel into awarding in your favour...

[Villan]

West Ham have given cheating a bad name. Thank God The Blades have beought them to justice. The conclusion to this tawdry episode could yet be a shining beacon of hope for honesty and integrity if the will of the courts prevails.

[Chris Morgan]

GIVE US THE MONEY OR I'LL ELBOW YA IN THE HEAD!

[Dave in Notts]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

At least Tevez plays for a big club now.

[Bill, Sydney, Oz]

I am a life-sentence West Ham fan. Our directors lied to the EPL and lied a second time. The club deserves all it gets. Naturally I hope it gets nothing and gets away with it.

Tevez kept West Ham up in the sense that the tower at one end of the harbour bridge keeps the bridge up, but other support is needed: in other words, Tevez was necessary to West Ham’s staying up but not by himself sufficient – others kept us up too. But no Tevez, no up.

As for a points deduction, what was the point – we were going down anyway.

[judge]

I think West Ham should just pay up, they agreed to be bound by the arbitration process and it found against them. The merits of SU's case are totally irrelevent now. A ruling has been made by a body that both parties agreed they woyld be bound by. End of story.

[Steven]

For a team that was so unjustly cheated out of their 'deserved' spot in the top flight, you lot seem to be doing an excellent impersonation of midtable strugglers.

Face it, if you'd stayed up last year you would have made Derby look like Man U - that's why you were relegated.