Monday, May 14, 2007

Last words on West Ham - possibly.

West Ham would have gone down without Tevez in their side.

For most of the season - if not the past few games during which no one seems to know for sure if he was eligible to play or not- he was ineligible to legally play for them.

We now know the punishment for this infringement of the rules is 5.5 million pounds with no points deduction. It is estimated that relegation will cost Sheffield United £50 million pounds in lost revenue from gate receipts, sponsorship and TV money.

Well done to the Premier League Commission who made the decision not to deduct West Ham points but to fine them the £5.5m. I think they have created a recipe for anarchy. Clearly any side can lie to every other side in the Premiership, field very talented international players, and who cares if those players happen to be ineligible to play because should they get caught out they will just have to pay a fine which is a tiny percentage of what they would lose if they were relegated.

3 comments:

Martin said...

I keep seeing the defence "relegation should be determined by events on the football pitch".Why didn't Sheff Utd just hire Brazil to play the last game for them then?

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I live in Sheffield but I don't support either Sheffield team. Still I am sad for this great northern city that has lost its Premiership exposure because of West Ham's cheating and the sweet FA's ineptitude. How must Rotherham fans be feeling?

J.J said...

Martin- exactly. And take the 5.5 million fine that would have gone with it.
I would also dispute that events on the pitch should decide relegation issues when certain players involved in the relegation fight shouldn't be on the football pitch.

YP, relegation is bad enough when it happens (I should know!) but when it happens in these circumstances it must be terrible. Rotherham, Bury, Wimbledon FC and especially Martin's team know exactly how level playing fields are not if the name of your side happens to be West Ham United.