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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.”

Son of Anarchy 7:15 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

It raises an eyebrow to read that a shit hole Northern city think of them as the victims, wallow in the past and blame everyone else.

Lily Hammer 8:35 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Stating the facts?

Yet another journo who fails to grasp Rob Green kept the clean sheet, at Old Trafford, needed to keep us up. Tevez goal was not needed.

He also failed to point out that Griffiths & Co didn't consider how many points the shock signings of Tevez and Mascherano lost us at the begining of the season while they tried to get used to Blighty and while the rest of the squad tried to get used to them.

leave my arcelona 9:17 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

"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."

Still to this day the most bizarre thing ever heard in a judges final statement and the most damning proof that the British justice system is completely flawed

How did the cunt even go about coming to this conclusion ??

DukeofDevo 9:24 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

The truth is that we scored more points without Tevez in the team that season than when he was in the team.

Complete cock up by our legal eagles!

Joe C 9:27 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Spot on Lily

One McAvennieeeeee 9:29 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

So he didn't didn't win us any points, but his signing defo lost us points?

Hahaha.

JohnnyL 9:34 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

In yesterday's Mail in a piece about Palace, Martin Samuel started with these words ...

It was Sheffield Utd who succeeded in establishing that a football club aren't responsible for their position in the league table. It took a while, but eventually they found a judge who ruled that it was West ham United's fault that the Blades were relegated in 2006-2007. Lord Griffiths effectively blamed a rival club for the entire season at Sheffield United, including the 10 points dropped by neil Warnock's team before Carlos Tevez had even played a game for West Ham.....

That sums things up for. E.

riosleftsock 9:42 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

What is equally amazing is that a know nothing cunt of a journalist was allowed to give evidence against us and his word was taken pretty much as fact.

Here's a reminder of this pompous twat..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/west-ham/3072968/West-Ham-v-Sheffield-United-A-definitive-guide-to-Carlos-Tevez-affair-Football.html

Monk~koknee 9:45 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Most people outside West Ham still believe we cheated (and should have been deducted points) because the media banded about the ineligible player tag at the outset. Around that time I used to know quite a few Sheff Utd fans through work connections and the majority view was that they threw it away themselves during the run-in. Of course, being football fans they were happy to clutch at the straw of possible points deduction to keep them up. I think if the boot was on the foot that many West Ham fans would have done the same.
For me, it overshadowed the bigger travesty during the run-in which was Liverpool effectively throwing their game at Fulham - which never gets a mention.

BulphanIron 9:50 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

We broke the rules, end of really...

hammer 74 9:51 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Monk

They didn't rest as many players as people seem to think: Reina, Arbeloa, Paletta, Hyypia, Insua, Pennant, Alonso, Sissoko, Gonzalez, Fowler, Bellamy.

Monk~koknee 9:54 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Still 9 changes from the previous week.

hammer 74 9:55 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

That's why teams have big squads. The likes of Man Utd used to regularly do it around European competition. Nobody seemed to moan about it then.

hammer 74 9:58 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

How many changes?

Previous week's line up: Dudek, Insua, Arbeloa, Paletta, Hyypia, Sissoko Alonso,Zenden, Gonzalez Bellamy, Fowler/

Swiss. 10:01 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Why do they get it so wrong. TheTevez goal and our win was not important in the last game.

WHU(Exeter) 10:04 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

Monk

Sheffield Utd fielded a weakened team that same season at Manchester Utd away, and according to one of their fans on the thread below, they did the same at Villa Park.

I'm not sure what Warnock's argument with all that was?

We can field a weakened team when I fancy it, but the League should step in heavily, if any other of the 19 clubs do the asme?

hammer 74 10:05 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

A manager should be allowed to select any team he wants out of the squad he is allowed to register, that is the point of the squad. I really don't see a problem. Some clubs feel that certain competitions are more important than others, hence why we are quite probably making 11 changes to tonight's starting line up.

Far Cough 10:10 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

I agree with 74, it's a squad game nowadays









HH in ten?

leave my arcelona 10:14 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

"For me, it overshadowed the bigger travesty during the run-in which was Liverpool effectively throwing their game at Fulham - which never gets a mention."

Fielding a weakened team is not deliberately attempting to lose a game of football

Iron Duke 10:15 Tue Aug 26
Re: Carlos Tevez affair still cuts deep

As already stated, we only needed a point in the last game, and our great escape was as much to do with Green, Noble and Zamora (to name a few) as it was with Tevez.

We only settled with Sheff Utd because we were in financial meltdown and couldn't afford to go through a lengthy legal battle.

Teams before and since (eg QPR and Sunderland) have fallen foul of the system without a points deduction, record fine, media uproar or legal proceedings from another club.

Yes, I still feel bitter about the whole afair. We were on the receiving end of a witch hunt. At least Sheff Utd, Fulham and Wigan are now all suffering.

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