Dave Whelan...

[Tee]

..is really winding me up with his one man crusade to get West Ham relegated.

I wish he would just shut the **** up and be grateful he survived.

As I see it West Ham have been punished and performed on the pitch when it mattered to stay up. Well done to them. Sheffield United should just accept what has happened and get on with it.

I am sure many of you will disagree with me..

[Neil Young]

..is really winding me up with his one man crusade to get West Ham relegated.

I wish he would just shut the **** up and be grateful he survived.

As I see it West Ham have been punished and performed on the pitch when it mattered to stay up. Well done to them. Sheffield United should just accept what has happened and get on with it.

I am sure many of you will disagree with me..

I disagree.

The Premier League completely bottled the decision. West Ham should have been deducted points IMO and I can't understand how Tevez was allowed to play in the games since the ruling.

Notwithstanding that, I think it is to Whelan's credit that he isn't abandoning the fight and leaving it all to Sheffield United now that Wigan are safe. He, and the other clubs involved, believe an injustice was done and are keeping together to fight it. All for one and all that, eh?

[MrMichael]

Difficult one.

The problem as I see it is that a precedent had been previously established for teams to be docked points in cases of serious breaches of FA rules concerning player eligibility. For the FA to have fined West Ham £5m when they normally had out fines of 10p shows just how serious a breach of the rules they committed - and lets not forget that one of the two players involved has more or less single-handedly saved them from the drop.

One could resonably argue that, where it mattered, ie. on the pitch, they gained a serious advantage by breaking the rules, and as such, their punishment was too lenient. I suspect that all the clubs near to relegation agreed that they would pursue this as a collective weeks ago, and in following that up Whelan is simply showing that he is a man of his word.

Having said that, I'd much rather the Premiership lost Sheff U than West Ham

[Tee]

This all boils down to money IMO and teh new tv deal next season. Sheffield Utd will take it to court, I mean who would the rest of the PL teams rather play next season, Sheff Utd or West Ham?

Surely West Ham will do better next year, but Sheff Utd will still be expected to struggle.

They should have started all this when the decision from the PL was originally made.

[simey85]

personally i don't think he gives a **** about it now he's just trying to save face and he can't really go back on his word when he said he was gona fight it, but deep down inside he probably doesn't give a crap and just hopes sheff utd will give up the ghost!

[Neil Young]

This all boils down to money IMO and teh new tv deal next season. Sheffield Utd will take it to court, I mean who would the rest of the PL teams rather play next season, Sheff Utd or West Ham?

Surely West Ham will do better next year, but Sheff Utd will still be expected to struggle.

They should have started all this when the decision from the PL was originally made.

They did. The FA only made their decision on 27 April.

[MrMichael]

The FA should have investigated and ruled on it months and months before they did. Everyone in football knew the deals West Ham did were seriously suspect as soon as they happened. There would have been no point in the other clubs starting a lengthy and complicated legal challenge when West Ham looked certainties for relegation a month ago.

The blame for this lies at West Ham, then the FA's door, and I do think Sheff U, much though I dislike them as a team, have a right to feel somewhat aggreived.

[Guest]

I agree with Neil on that one. It was a very strange decision, as West Ham had cocked that up and deserved to be deducted points on the simple basis they've been fielding an ineligible player (2 if you count Mascherano).

The fine been imposed on West Ham is no big deal, taking into account what they'll be earning from TV money next season. Add to that that it will add to the FA's coffers.

West Ham should have been deducted at least 5 points for ****ing this all up, and to an extent, I agree with Whelan.

[alunevans]

i agree with neil too. tevez has kept them up. at 5 million fine he's been an absolute bargain. like some of the clubs have said, on the pitch it has not been a level playing field.

this gives the green light for clubs to bus in ineligible players and play them in key games knowing that they'll only get a fine.

i wonder what would have happened if sheff utd had somehow brought in ronaldinho or someone just for their game against wigan (unlikely as that is!)

would they have been docked points or just fined. if the latter it's a strategy clubs would be well advised to pursue given the cash at stake in the relegation fight.

[Tee]

Surely the problem is with the FAPL now? As far as West Ham are concerned they have been punished - would it be right to go back and change that punishment? The FAPL should come out and explain it all and at the very worst give West Ham a penalty points deduction starting from next year.

I mean, if we lose in Athens we may feel aggrieved because Milan should not even have been in the comp this season!! Should we take the matter further?!

[JohnnyLambert]

He does right campaigning!!

If the same had of happend to Wigan or Sheffield Utd I can almost guarantee they would have been docked points.

Due to West Ham's history, affiliation with FA through past England stars (Bobby Moore and such like), them being a London club and Trevor Brooking being heavily involved with the FA.

The same sort of situations have arisen in lower leagues over the past couple of years. Teams like Bury I think have been thrown out of FA cups and AFC Wimbledon docked points for fielding ineligable players.

You cannot tailor the rules for each club!!

I dont think anything is goin to happen to west Ham but fair play to Dave Whelan and such like for pushing this all the way!!

[Guest]

Last Updated: Monday, 14 May 2007, 08:22 GMT 09:22 UK
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Jewell angry with Premier League
Wigan boss Paul Jewell (right) is congratulated by chairman Dave Whelan
Jewell (right) maintained the belief his Wigan side could stay up
Wigan boss Paul Jewell reaffirmed his anger at the Premier League's timing of the hearing into West Ham's signing of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.

West Ham escaped a points deduction but were fined £5.5m on 27 April - a day before they played Wigan.

Wigan clinched top-flight safety by winning at Sheffield United, while West Ham beat Manchester United to survive.

"The ideal scenario for the Premier League might have been for Manchester United to beat West Ham," said Jewell.

Interview: Wigan boss Paul Jewell


People's persona of Wigan is that it's probably the least attractive club in the Premiership so we deserve great credit for being there for a third successive season

Wigan manager Paul Jewell

Jewell added: "Some people think West Ham have got off the hook a little bit.

"But I don't want to go down that route. The reason we had to go into the final game to stay up was that we weren't good enough over the 37 games before."

Sheffield United were relegated through goal difference after their 2-1 defeat by Wigan at Bramall Lane.

Jewell stated: "I have been in football for a long time and I know when people have some doubts in their mind you have got to play on them.


606: DEBATE
I love the way West Ham play, but they got off lightly

RD

"Sheffield United didn't have to win to stay up but we had nothing else in our minds but to win the game.

"I said to the players, they will be edgy because it's all in their hands.

"I feel like I've just run a marathon. It's a great achievement for a club of our size and we have had to overcome a lot of obstacles.

"People's persona of Wigan is that it's probably the least attractive club in the Premiership so we deserve great credit for being there for a third successive season."

[Gordy Boy]

The Premier League ordered an independent investigation to take place, which all the clubs had agreed to before hand. The fact West Ham didn't get docked points is just tough luck on Sheff Utd.

The fact that they're 'stepping up' their legal bid is neither here nor there, they have virtually no chance of reversing the decision.

If I were in the Premier League's shoes (and feeling a little bit playful) I'd dock West Ham one point for Mascher's signing, and one point for Tevez'.

There you are Mr.Warnock, points deducted, unfortunately you still go down. Now stop whining.

[alunevans]

The Premier League ordered an independent investigation to take place, which all the clubs had agreed to before hand. The fact West Ham didn't get docked points is just tough luck on Sheff Utd.

The fact that they're 'stepping up' their legal bid is neither here nor there, they have virtually no chance of reversing the decision.

If I were in the Premier League's shoes (and feeling a little bit playful) I'd dock West Ham one point for Mascher's signing, and one point for Tevez'.

There you are Mr.Warnock, points deducted, unfortunately you still go down. Now stop whining.

i can't see anything changing in terms of the sentence but its possible sheff utd could be awarded a big cash settlement for damages and i guess this is what they are going to claim for in the end.

[dww]

It is clearly quite a complicated situation. To be honest considering what happened with Spurs when Sugar took over there is an obvious precident for points deductions not being applied after a new board takes over for off field irregularities.

However thats not what the commision said - they talked about how it was unfair to take points at the time as it would relegate West Ham. Which is obvious bollocks - the point of a points deduction is to make it harder to achieve on the pitch.

The problem is that the teams all agreed to be bound by the arbitration of the independant panel at the start of the season. The PL clearly needs to make better rules but under the present ones there is no mandatory punishment for the offence West Ham commited and no precedent so in the end I suspect any legal challenge will mearly financially disadvantage those involved.

However I think it is fair enough for any chairman to be forthright in condemning what was clearly a poorly thought through judgement.

Tevez was allowed to play because West Ham proved to the Premier League that they had ammended the original contract to a similar form to our agreement about Mascerano. So assuming that they have actually done this then all is good.