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holyhandgrenade 6:51 Tue Aug 26
Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Good little piece here, showing a fairly neutral point and stating the facts. Good to see BFS has an understanding of what it means to us tonight as well.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/aug/25/carlos-tevez-west-ham-sheffield-united

Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep as Sheffield United face West Ham

• Mutual loathing as Bramall Lane club return in League Cup
• Relegation after Argentinian signed for West Ham still festers


John Ashdown
The Guardian, Monday 25 August 2014 19.58 BST

The second round of the League Cup is not usually associated with vitriol, venom and downright loathing but there will be an abundance of all three at Upton Park on Tuesday evening when West Ham welcome Sheffield United for the first time since the clubs had an ever so minor disagreement over a certain Argentinian.

The memory of Carlos Tevez and the court cases that saw West Ham pay £20m in compensation to Sheffield United remains an incendiary issue between the clubs and one that infuses this fixture like lighter fluid. Resentment has festered.

Tevez’s arrival with Javier Mascherano at West Ham on transfer deadline day in August 2006 sowed the seeds of a problem. The discovery of the third-party agreements concerning the players that came to light in January 2007 provided the soil in which they could grow. The independent Premier League commission’s decision to impose a record £5.5m fine rather than a points deduction did all the watering and weeding required for the issue to come into full bloom. West Ham opted not to appeal. Kevin McCabe, the Sheffield United chairman, felt the decision “invited anarchy”.

On the final day of the season West Ham went to Old Trafford to face Manchester United and got the win they needed, with, of course, Tevez scoring the only goal of the game. At Bramall Lane Neil Warnock’s side needed only a draw to relegate their opponents Wigan Athletic, who would then very likely have taken United’s place in what was to come, but lost 2-1 thanks to a David Unsworth penalty.

United lost an initial appeal against their relegation in the summer of 2007, despite an arbitration panel admitting that it “would in all probability have reached a different conclusion and deducted points from West Ham”. A year after relegation an independent FA tribunal found in their favour, with the chair, Lord Griffiths, judging that: “We have no doubt that West Ham would have secured at least three fewer points over the 2006-07 season if Carlos Tevez had not been playing for the club.”

Sheffield United had wanted compensation of up to £45m in lost income but in the end came to an out-of-court settlement with West Ham that saw the Hammers pay almost £20m. The West Ham chief executive, Scott Duxbury, said he was pleased to “draw a line under this whole episode”, McCabe was “happy and satisfied” with the settlement that had been reached in discussions that were “friendly, co-operative and in the best of spirit”. The final payment was delivered in the summer of 2013. The boardrooms and moneymen may have been able to bury the hatchet but football fans have longer memories than those that run their clubs.

Sheffield United’s trajectory since 2007 has hardly helped. Thanks to that original £5.5m fine, the Premier League itself has been the target of much of the supporters’ ire and the club have spent the intervening years getting as far away from it as possible. The financial boon of the final settlement should have helped Sheffield United bounce back towards the top flight but the parachute payments and money received from West Ham were squandered and the club are beginning their fourth successive season in the third tier.

All but a handful of the original players in the drama have moved on – Chris Morgan, now first-team coach, is the only member of the playing staff from 2006-07 still at Bramall Lane. Carlton Cole, James Collins and Mark Noble, one of whom is likely to start on Tuesday evening, are the only West Ham players at the club who were team-mates of Tevez. The No32 shirt worn by Tevez is now on the back of 17-year-old Reece Burke, who was 10 years old when West Ham performed their great escape at Old Trafford.

Both sets of fans seem convinced that the other is far more bothered about the tie than they are. In truth, both desperately want a modicum of revenge. “It’s about me making sure that they [the fans] go home happy because they feel aggrieved about what Sheffield United did,” said the West Ham manager, Sam Allardyce. “So if I can do that for them it will be great.”

harold 6:22 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

It wasn't written into the contract after we tore up the original.

Texas Iron 6:16 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Joorabchian was in deep with some heavy hitters...Berezovsky...Zahavi...

Maybe they put the squeeze on Duxbury et al at West Ham...

hammer 74 6:08 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

harold

yes it was, that is why we witheld the original documents and why the pl made us tear up the contract and then the 'oral cuddles' happened. if it wasnt in the contract why did they insist we tore up the deal before the PL would allow tevez to play in the final 3 games?

Lily Hammer 6:01 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Fuck, I'm mixing up seasons. he was already at man u by then, wasn't he?

One Raducioiu! 6:00 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

This whole thing really pissed me off.

Yes, we broke the rules by bringing two players to the club under third party ownership.

We were fined a record amount, £5.5m, for the offence. That should have been it. End of story. What happens after that is none of our fucking business, and certainly not our fault.

Tevez playing the final few games was down to the FA. They said it was okay. The fact that Sheffield Utd fucked up so badly is nothing to do with us signing Tevez. If they wanted compensation, they should have gone to the FA, not us.

Fucking whinging bad loser cunts.

Lily Hammer 5:59 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

OK, but had Tevez made it clear he wanted to stay, how likely do you think it would have been that, when MSI or whoever claimed we made oral cuddles, West Ham would have said "Don't know what you're talking about, squire," and insusted on keeping him?

I'm feeling in the dark here, because I'm not sure what was signed and on paper at the time MSI blew the oral cuddles whistle. It was at least approved registration as far as the PL were concerened, wasn't it?

harold 5:56 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

But it wasn't written into the contract.

hammer 74 5:52 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Lily

Joorabchian said nothing, it was an independent lawyer that had worked for MSI at the time that grassed up duxbury/adlridge regarding the 'oral cuddles'.

the agreement to let MSI have full control over tevez's movements was in the original contract, one that we then tore up, but then subsequently told MSI was still valid as far as we were concerned.

Lily Hammer 5:49 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

We could have told Joorbachim to fuck off, but I think it might have been a genuine gentleman's agreement to let Tevez go if he wanted to, ie a sympathetic agreement thinking of Tevez.

I also suspect that, had Joorbachim kept his mouth shut and accepted this cuddle, and then Tevez had told the club "I really want to stay at West Ham, and I mean REALLY REALLY." then we may have taken our chances and told them to fuck off.....perhaps.

hammer 74 5:49 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

So, if we had full control over Tevez and could've told Kia to fuck off how come we didn't get a 20m+ transfer fee when he left for man utd, instead we received a minimal fee to placate the fa/pl and man utd paid MSI 5m a year to loan him for 2 season?

harold 5:46 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Anyone's guess. Maybe he had something he could use against us.

hammer 74 5:39 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Why didn't we then?

harold 5:39 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

He didn't do anything wrong, just looking after his interests; but we could still have told him to f**k off.

hammer 74 5:36 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Well apart from threatening to convince Tevez not to play in the final three games of the season unless we honoured the deal that the PL would not allow.....ALLEGEDLY.

The Human Stain 5:33 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Joorabchian did nothing wrong. Others did and just after xmas in season in question.

Texas Iron 5:28 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Joorabchian = snake...and I said so at the time...

Just imagine where we'd be today if he had bogh the club...Liquidation...while he made millions...

hammer 74 5:06 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

So, why didn't we tell Joorabchian to fuck off instead of letting Tevez join Man Utd?

Texas Iron 5:06 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

harold
If you're right...how come we got done for it...piss poor lawyers representing West Ham...???

harold 5:03 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Oral cuddles, so what. The 3rd party influence was removed. If Kia wanted to move Tevez on, we could have told him to f**k off. Surely, the FA/Premier league must have realized that, and so should Griffith.

Texas Iron 4:58 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

BTW...
Has Duxbury admitted it was all his fault from beginning to end...from not responding properly to the PL legal staff ...to the oral cuddles that finally nailed US...

hammer 74 4:58 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Willtell

we went into the tribunal agreeing to abide by any decision made with no further recourse. read this which includes statements from the CAS:

West Ham's hopes of avoiding a huge payout in the Carlos Tevez affair have suffered a serious setback.

The Hammers are drafting a "statement of appeal" to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, yet the Lausanne court will not be able to hear the case.

Its secretary general, Matthieu Reeb, told BBC Sport: "As things stand, CAS would not be able to hear this case.

"We would need agreement from Sheffield United and for Football Association rules to allow an appeal to CAS."

Sheffield United are unlikely, to say the least, to give agreement to an appeal that could overturn the decision of the independent tribunal.

And the FA actually has a rule that stipulates there cannot be an appeal from the verdict of an independent tribunal.

We do not accept that one player's contribution can be placed over that of the team as a whole

West Ham statement

Rule K5c states that by signing up to arbitration, "the parties shall be deemed to have waived irrevocably any right to appeal, review or any recourse to a court of law".

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