personally i hope all this bluster becomes reality - the league is a mockery at the moment
'We'll bankrupt you'
Jamie Jackson
Sunday May 6, 2007
The Observer
West Ham's joy at moving out of the bottom three of the Premiership for the first time since December was tempered last night when it emerged that a third of the Premiership's clubs are ready to go to court and possibly bankrupt the east London club should they avoid relegation.
Carlos Tevez, the man at the centre of the row that threatens the Premier League's stability, scored twice as West Ham beat Bolton 3-1 at a noisy Upton Park. Furious executives from four clubs - Sheffield United, Wigan, Fulham and Charlton - told Observer Sport last night that at least two others, not directly involved in the relegation fight, could join them in pursuing a legal action over what they consider to be 'a matter of principle'.
The clubs are fuming about a Premier League commission's decision to fine West Ham £5.5million - but not dock them points - for fielding ineligible players Tevez and Javier Mascherano, who are owned by businesses, not clubs, and for misleading all the other teams in the Premiership.
When the clubs met to discuss the issue last Friday, one course of action they considered was a legal challenge against the Premier League. But they appear to have no avenue open to them for such a move. 'They cannot appeal the decision because they weren't a party to it,' said Gerard Elias, a leading sports lawyer.
But the commission also found that West Ham had lied to League officials about the players' contracts, breaking rule B13, which states that 'each club shall behave towards each other club and League in utmost good faith'. It is this violation that allows any of the relegation-threatened clubs who believe their interests may have been damaged to sue West Ham privately. They can argue that by lying to and misleading the League, West Ham, in effect, lied to each and every rival club.
'A club might have a claim if they could establish that as a result of West Ham playing players they should not have done, the club was subsequently relegated, and if it could show as a result of that, that they have lost financially because they are in the Championship,' Elias confirmed.
If any club were to win an action directly against West Ham, it could spell financial doom for the London club, who already have hefty debts.
The independent commission found West Ham guilty of agreeing contracts that allowed third parties - the businesses that own the economic rights to Tevez and Mascherano - potentially to influence club and team matters, in violation of Premier League rule U18. While the fine is the most severe punishment in the League's history, there is widespread disbelief in the game that West Ham did not have points deducted.
The clubs are waiting for legal advice, which should arrive by late tomorrow or early Tuesday, before launching their action. If West Ham stay up, the clubs will back a legal claim for loss of Premiership status on behalf of any club who drop into the bottom three. They could claim up to £60m according to figures released last week by the country's leading football financial analysts, Deloitte. Even if West Ham go down, the clubs say, a legal case will go ahead regardless.
Last week, the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, visited the clubs in an attempt to alleviate the situation, but met an angry response. One of the reasons given by the commission for not deducting points - despite finding West Ham guilty of dishonesty and deceit - was that the timing, so late in the season, would have meant 'West Ham would have certainly been relegated'.
Scudamore was repeatedly told by the executives that this was 'nonsensical'.
'If West Ham had been deducted 10 points in January that would have been catastrophic, too,' said a senior executive of one of the 'gang of four'. 'They would have known they were obviously going down. '
Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, said: 'There has been a large element of dishonesty here. The Premier League is in a bit of turmoil on rules, regulations and honesty.' A Fulham director, Stuart Benson, added: 'All the clubs should have their points reinstated [from games involving Tevez]. Every point lost is worth millions.'
Sheffield United, to back their case that West Ham gained an unfair advantage over them, will point to their 1-0 defeat by West Ham on 25 November in which Tevez started. Middlesbrough, who lost 2-0 on 31 March, with Tevez scoring the second goal, are another club who could feel they have directly suffered. West Ham have won 23 points from matches in which Tevez played, more than half of their total of 38, and the value of the player to their cause cannot be overestimated. He won 84.5 per cent of fans' votes for player of the year, 17 times more than the runner-up, Bobby Zamora. The Argentine underlined his value with his performance against Bolton yesterday.
'Make no bones about it,' said Sheffield United's chairman Kevin McCabe, 'we started looking into this as soon as the announcement came. It seemed to us that the tribunal did not take into any account the effect of playing those illegal players on the other clubs in the relegation battle. It seems only to have considered a breach of the rules and not the implications. It is also very odd that there was a very clear admission that West Ham had told lies.
'Now that one-third of the Premier League is together, it may have an effect on the League in terms of asking for a review of the decision-making process from the tribunal. That could lead to a different ruling. It seemed obtuse.
'West Ham have admitted that they fielded players illegally. Tevez is a brilliant player and that gives them an advantage. Hopefully Sheffield United will not be relegated, but we will support any club in whatever they might pursue.'
The offending part of Tevez's contract has been changed since the offences came to light, according to a West Ham official. Mascherano, who barely played for the club, has since moved to Liverpool on a legally acceptable contract and has helped the club to the Champions League final.
Another executive from the four confirmed that those above the relegation zone were considering their position. 'Clubs like Aston Villa and Middlesbrough are realising: "Hang on here, this could be us next season."'
Third-party ownership of players is common in South America. The agent Pini Zahavi, speaking to The Observer last November, explained how it works: 'The footballer, even if he belongs to a company or private business people, still belongs to the club, because by Fifa regulations the federative rights, the registration, belong to the club. A single person or company can own only the economic rights. If a company buys rights to a player when they sell, half or whatever share of the payment will be transferred to the owner of the economic rights.
'It's easier to buy a player who you are unsure about for £10million if you are sharing the risk with a partner. If the player becomes top-drawer and is sold for £30million, then you may feel stupid only to own half. But if the player turns out to be merely average or a failure, if he cannot even be sold, you will say: "Fantastic. The disaster was not only mine." '
The commission, in its deliberations on Tevez and Mascherano, stated that such contracts were not only contrary to Premier League regulations, but unenforceable in law because they were 'invalid as being in restraint of trade'.
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Comments
"ENGLAND could be suspended from international competition and English clubs prevented from playing Champions League and Uefa Cup matches if the Premier League is taken to court over West Ham United’s use of ineligible players."
There is a lot of bluster about this at the moment, as soon as the season is over, the sides relegated will find themselves friendless as the others will suddenly back off.
It may be a 'matter of principle' at the moment, but it wouldn't be a major surprise if the others were persuaded to back down in the interests of the Premiership cash cow/good of the game etc, and Messrs Murray and Whelan will be a lot more isolated than they currently are.
But if Kevin McCabe's telling The Observer a third of the Premiership's ready to gang on up West Ham, that's interesting. But a third is only six or seven clubs - and the big four probably won't give a toss.
Things have not gone in our favour, but getting Pardew in asides, we haven't done ourselves any favours this season on the whole.
The Fulham result has really knocked me flat...
I said this during the week but a response said it was irrevelant. Nothing will come from this saga and we will be playing in the fizzy pop league next season not due to Tevez but cos we aint good enough - end of.
They would have been relegated already.
They would have been relegated already.[/quote]
Too true.
In 02-03 west ham won 6 of thier last 11 games and went down.
So even with thier good run of late, there is still time for the hatrick.