Sheffield United claim £30m from Hammers
17/08/2007 |
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Sheffield United's bitter wrangle with West Ham United over the Carlos Tevez affair is destined for a third arbitration hearing after the Yorkshire club took legal action against the Londoners yesterday, seeking "substantial compensation" of up to £30m for being relegated.
West Ham avoided the drop last season largely thanks to the late-season heroics of Tevez. This was after a first arbitration hearing had already fined them £5.5m over irregularities in the signings of Tevez and Javier Mascherano. A second hearing, at Sheffield United's request, post-relegation, challenged the Premier League's enforcement of its own rules, but failed to change the verdict.
United have now changed tack, and are gunning directly at West Ham, accusing them of a "breach of utmost good faith". The mechanism they have chosen is to serve notice of arbitration to West Ham under the Football Association's Rule K.
United's basis for their latest claim is not just that West Ham acted dishonestly in obtaining the registration of Tevez by failing to reveal he was controlled by a third party. United will also cite as evidence for the first time a document dated 1 December 2006, which purports to show that West Ham's new regime, not just the old owners, had an illicit third-party deal.
United will argue that neither of the previous hearings saw this document, and so did not make a ruling based on the full facts when fining West Ham rather than docking points.
West Ham have 14 days to respond to United's action. One solution could be an out-of-court settlement, with West Ham paying Sheffield United compensation, probably of a few million pounds or less. With no such settlement, a hearing would go ahead, with each side nominating one of three panellists, and the third picked by mutual agreement.
The panel will rehear all evidence and have the powers to award unlimited compensation, if United win. The panel's findings would be binding, if it came to that.
(Source: Independent.co.uk)
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