West Ham and Sheffield United Hammer Out Comic Relief
Friday, 13 March 09, 05:11 AM · Comments(2)
by Joe Walton
Sheffield United's self-styled 'Campaign for Fairness' has yielded a reported £10 million payout from West Ham, in an out-of-court settlement to finally end the Carlos Tevez affair.
Kevin McCabe, the Sheffield United chairman who's campaign has coincided with Sheffield United breaking the same 3rd party ownership rule as West Ham and seen them try to swindle out of paying compensation to the Barnsley striker Iain Hume after their captain, Chris Morgan, fractured his skull, has avoided a closer inspection of his claim by cashing in on West Ham's current money worries.
The West Ham chairman, Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, is currently looking for a buyer for the East End club after losing a vast proportion of his wealth as a result of Iceland's financial crash. In an attempt to make the club a more saleable asset, Gudmundsson has taken the decision to end the long running saga which has haunted the club for over 2 years. The settlement means that a future arbitration date, which was to look carefully at Sheffield United's compensation claim, will not now go ahead. This is a massive boon for McCabe who's claim had been likened by a legal expert to "a dodgy holiday compensation claim."
West Ham were originally ordered to pay compensation to Sheffield United after it was ruled that the club broke 3rd party ownership rules in a contract which stipulated that Tevez would be sold in the January transfer window should a bid of £600,000 be made. Such a bid was never made and thus the clause was never enacted. This didn't stop Sheffield United claiming that Tevez should never have been allowed to play and that his performances kept West Ham up and sent United down. A Premier League arbitration panel ruled that Tevez "without doubt" kept West Ham up, a ruling which was based on Gary Linker's comments on MOTD, Henry Winter's match report of one game and Rick Parry's evidence.
While no 3rd party influence was ever enacted over West Ham, the same cannot be said of Sheffield United. After selling Steve Kabba to Watford, the club entered into a "gentleman's agreement" with the buying club which stopped Kabba playing against Watford in a crucial relegation 6-pointer. Something which Sheffield United have never been punished for.
Although this compensation has come about completely against the logic of the law, and is in my opinion a farce, it will at least save my sanity by finally putting and end to it all.
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2 Comments · Add yours
The compensation does seem completely arbitrary, but it's probably a small price to pay to see the back of this saga.
Plus, whether or not Tevez kept you up, the fact is that if you had gone down you'd more than likely be far worse off than you are now, even after this compensation. Best just to take it on the chin and move on - would rather be in your position than Sheffield United's.
Now Colin's gonna sue? Christ, will it never end?