Slim Hope For West Ham In The Carlos Tevez Affair

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has offered hope to West Ham's appeal against a tribunal decision ordering compensation to Sheffield United. Sheffield United were relegated in 2006/07 and a tribunal ruled West Ham broke Premier League rules to sign Carlos Tevez, now with Manchester United who had a key role in keeping them up.

It all stemmed around the fact that Kia Joorabchiamclaimed to 'own' Tevez and West Ham were 'renting' him, a system the FA don't want any part of and have decided it was unlawful for this to have happened. Now the CAS is to hold a preliminary hearing today, 10th Oct 2008 to decide if there is any case to be heard at all.

West Ham have already appointed an arbitrator and submitted a 12-page legal document to CAS which argues that they haven't had the chance of appeal. West Ham are desperate to avoid such a large payout as they face now, believed to be around £30m given the current financial climate and the fact their Icelandic owners are on the point of bankruptcy anyway.

West Ham are saying they are not affected by the Icelandic bank situation and are dressing matters up as business as normal, despite admitting players must be sold before they can buy, they are saying manager Gianfranco Zola always intended to trim the squad.

These are difficult times for football clubs in general and West Ham certainly don't want to have pay out what could be up to £30m for something that happened two years ago....Back To Home Page