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Morning Ticker: Sheffield United win ruling over West Ham promotion, Chelsea pair sidelined and Newcastle sale gains steam

Carlos_tevez_ap

If you are a West Ham United fan or Sheffield United fan it is impossible to forget the end of the 2006/2007 season. The Hammers avoided relegation on the strength of Carlos Tevez’s heroics while Sheffield United was sent down despite the fact that Tevez never should have been allowed to join West Ham.

The controversy led to calls for West Ham to be sent down and Sheffield United kept up, but that never seemed likely to happen. Now, some 17 months later, Sheffield United is set to receive compensation for the fiasco. An FA panel has ruled in Sheffield United’s favor and the League Championship club could wind up being awarded upwards of £30 million from West Ham.

That isn’t exactly chump change, especially for a West Ham club that recently saw its shirt sponsor go bankrupt.

Here are some other stories from this morning and Monday to get your day started:

Carvalho and Deco sidelined

Chelsea’s Portuguese duo of Deco and Ricardo Carvalho are both set to be sidelined for weeks after suffering injuries on Sunday. Carvalho is set to miss a month with knee ligament damage suffered during Chelsea’s 1-1 draw vs. Manchester United. Deco is expected to be out two weeks with a thigh muscle tear suffered in pre-game warm-ups on Sunday.

Trezeguet out for year

Juventus striker David Trezeguet is set to miss the rest of the year, and will be sidelined for up to five months, after surgery to repair a knee injury suffered in Juve’s Champions League 1-0 win vs. Zenit St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

Juventus will need to lean on new signing Amauri to partner with veteran striker Alessandro Del Piero as the club attempts to challenge Inter Milan for the Serie A title.

Newcastle’s Nigerian takeover gains steam

The rumored move by Nigerian investors to buy Newcastle is gaining steam and now the latest buzz has the group reinstating former manager Kevin Keegan if its takeover bid is successful.

“They will bring back Kevin Keegan immediately as manager and there will be £75m made available to buy players," said a consultant for the group.

Could Newcastle join Manchester City as another EPL team boosted by foreign money and turned into a power player? It is entirely possible.

What do you think of thise stories? Surprised to see Sheffield United win its case against West Ham? Do you see Chelsea slipping up without Deco and Carvalho? Do you see Juventus falling behind Inter without Trezeguet?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Michael B, your comments on the Nigerian investors was quite offensive and just plain ignorant. You do realize that Nigeria has a ton of oil, and most likely these investors got their money from oil, it’s actually the first thing that came to my mind, but thanks for making your borderline racist statements.

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  2. Keep your head buried in the sand Danny. And when West Ham go down because they don’t have any money to buy players this transfer window, we will all have a good laugh at you, asshat.

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  3. from the Guardian:

    “The judgment reads: ‘On the totality of the evidence, 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.”

    If that is the judgment, it’s clear the panel was made up of morons. Why play the games if the matches are predetermined by the line-ups? If Tevez single-handedly kept West Ham up, why did they lose to Sheff Utd with Tevez in the team? The whole thing is ludicrous.

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  4. Jason,

    Long story short. The previous ownership allowed for a clause in Mascherno & Tevez loans that they could be bought out for GBP100k and allowed to leave during the January transfer window. That represents 3rd party influence, which is a breach of the rules.

    West Ham admitted guilt for this and was fined GPB5.5mm. IT WAS NEVER A QUESTION OF THEIR REGISTRATION BEING LEGAL. There simply was a 3rd party clause which is illegal and UNPRECEDENTED, so anyone saying points should be deducted bases it on nothing as this was the first time a case has been tried for that.

    The reason West Ham had to re-register Tevez in April was because the new ownership (who, by the way reported ON THEIR OWN that the contract had the 3rd party illegal language, they came out with this, they were never “caught”), ripped up the old deal and re-registered him (tevez) without the language in the contract. Both the FA & Prem League approved this.

    So if anyone owes Shitfield Utd money, it should be them since they approved of it.

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  5. And that story is innaccurate since they didnt even purchase the players.

    So let me know when you want to learn the facts, I’d be happy to explain them to you.

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  6. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=575021&sec=global&cc=5901

    “The FA failed to dock the Hammers any points despite a wide ranging series of rule branches surrounding the purchase of Tevez and Mascherano in August 2006 with the club failing to properly disclose the link between the players and MSI. Premier rules state that players cannot be owned by a third party.”

    West Ham broke the rules and obtained players illegally. End of story.

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  7. Hmmm. Guess my last post was a little too racy.

    Danny, I’m actually with you on this one. The Blades have no one to blame but themselves. I have a mate from Sheffield – Blades, not Owls – who agrees.

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  8. Danny,

    I’m on your side. The Blades cocked it up for themselves and have no one to blame but themselves. I don’t remember for sure but seem to recall several of their final ten or so games being against bottom table clubs. The rules at the time were the rules at the time and Tevez was legally registered according to those rules.

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  9. Chris,

    Jagielka caught a cross in the box like he was Dwight Clarke on a pass from Joe Montana allowing a penalty.

    Its just crazy for people to act like Sheffield Utd was sent down because of Tevez. They played like crap down the stretch, thats why they went down.

    p.s. They beat West Ham 3-0 and Tevez played…so…

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  10. Jason,

    I agree, one would think that. One would also think that loan deals where the loaned player cannot play against the club that loaned the player should not influence whome said player plays against. But that was commonplace up until this past year. And is every bit the definition of 3rd party influence.

    Its a joke.

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  11. Danny’s got it right. The Hammers pulled the impossible and Tevez was a big part of that, but anyone who actually watched those games knows the rest of the team stepped up every bit as much as Carlos. Carlos just happened to be the one putting balls in the back of the net. The Blades should be as upset with Liverpool as anyone. At least ManU tried in their match.

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  12. I really haven’t read too much into this West Ham/Sheffield story…

    Who’s responsible for determining whether a player is eligible or not?

    I assume both the club and the FA share that responsibility..and should both be paying a penalty for it

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  13. Sorry Danny, you can hold your breath and pitch a tantrum all you want, but the fact remains West Ham stayed up with the help of an illegal player. The FA has ruled so. Thats why they are going to have to fork over 30 million pounds. End of story.

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  14. Isn’t anyone questioning what will happen when the money leaves the EPL? The day will come when Abramovich/Abu Dhabi/Nigerian/etc sells their club, new owners come in that no longer can afford/will pay for whichever player want to join them, nor will they be able to pay the top stars at the current growth rate.

    I’d much rather see financially responsible clubs playing team soccer than all-star mercenary squads.

    Hughes seems to be on his way to becoming a great manager, lets hope he isn’t chewed up in the process.

    Newcastle has turned into a circus.

    Does the EPL do any sort of due diligence on the background of new owners?

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  15. My only concern with Nigerian investors in Newcastle (my EPL team of choice) is that I don’t want the Magpies to end up in a ManCity-style Shiniwatra (sp?) circumstance where the team takes a boatload of funding from someone who has it frozen or pulled out from under them b/c of politics back home. I don’t care if they’re from Nigeria or Mexico or UAE or Lindisfarne. I just want the team to have a solid set of finances behind it, and the fans to let the team develop instead of going all Chelski on them and just buying a title outright.

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  16. If Tevez wasn’t on that team, they would have gone down that year. Not to say the Hammers didn’t have good players and wouldn’t have come right back up but Tevez was the game changer at that moment.

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  17. SteveJW,

    He was not an illegal player.

    Do people care about facts before they talk?

    West Ham were found to have breached a rule about 3rd party influence.

    He was ALWAYS REGISTERED WITH THE DAMN FA.

    Its like you all get your news from Kevin McCabe himself! Jeez.

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  18. Rich Nigerian investors? Did they get all their money through email scams? Am I now going to get emails telling me that a soccer club in Europe needs my bank account information in order to “hold” money for them that they took illegally from an agent when transfering a player to/from their club?

    Honestly, the EPL needs to come up with some kind of review board that goes over who is buying these clubs so they can stop this type of thing from happening. Could you imagine a guy like the one who just sold Man City, a primer who has been kicked out of his own country being allowed to buy a NFL or MLB team?

    If it looks like a duck and smells like a duck…

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  19. Anyone who thinks Tevez didn’t play a major part in West Ham staying up is crazy, but I don’t think he did it by himself.

    Now on to the more important part of this ruling, how is West Ham to blame for his being registered? Shouldn’t that fall on the FA? I mean last time I checked there was an association that is supposed to run this league, to stop teams from doing such a thing. By allowing West Ham to register Tevez, it no longer was West Ham’s problem, the league was now at fault. I am not a West Ham fan, far from it, but I do think this is stupidity of the highest form.

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  20. It doesn’t matter what Tevez did for West Ham that year. I believe he was the single reason West Ham stayed up that year but that is not really the point. It is the same issue you face in youth soccer for using an illegal player. It doesn’t matter how good the player was it is the fact he played and never should have been on the team.

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  21. doug,

    If you want to go that route, you can say that Carlitos unsettled the Hammers too. The same squad (no losses, but some good additions) had just gone to the FA Cup Final & finished 9th the year before. So please.

    I don’t talk about other teams style of play outside of Arsenal & West Ham cause I don’t see them enough. You all should consider that advice.

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  22. I would not put your money on Dempsey starting in the Carling Cup. Word from Motspur Park is that Etuhu, Andreasen and Andranik will get starts and that ould leave Clint on the pine again if Roy Hodgson feels that he needs a regular in the mix at the MF spot. Maybe Clint gets a look up front with Eric Nevland. Guy scores goals in several games in row for the US but can’t get a sniff at Fulham. Shame really. I would however expect Eddie Johnson to get a good run out.

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  23. you guys could have been signing “im forever blowing bubbles” and reffering to the bubbles from the free Coca-Cola from the soft-drink championship you wouldve been in if not for Tevez

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  24. dannyc58, dont you think that a bit harsh om Beckster. Granted the Hammers players played well toward the end of the season. But without Tevez catching fire that last 2 and a half months, can you really say with a straight face that it was anyone else but Carlitos that kept them up? If he doesnt score, they go down. Simple as that

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  25. beckster,

    ” Tevez certainly singlehandedly kept the Hammers up that season ”

    Just stop. You clearly are nto a West Ham fan or you know that isn’t remotely true. Was he a huge influence? No question. But the form of Lucas Neill, Mark Noble, Bobby Zamora, Robert Green and others played a huge part as well. So please don’t speak about things which you don’t know.

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  26. Surprising on the Tevez ruling given how long it has been drawn out. Tevez certainly singlehandedly kept the Hammers up that season – however, not so clear that he could have kept Sheffield United up.

    Also of note today, Bobby Convey starting for Reading in the Carling Cup and it will be interesting to see if Dempsey features for Fulham.

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  27. Ives,

    I want to say I appreciate you stating only what is fact at the moment, not adding in opinion and hyperbole as some other places have.

    As always proving you are the best in the biz.

    As for my opinion as a West Ham fan? This is tough to take. I mean, Sheffield Utd sold two players Steve Kabba to Watford & Lilian Nalis to Portsmouth and said those players could not play against them (Sheff utd). Isn’t that the same 3rd party influence they want compensation from us for?

    They went down cause they play shite football, and couldnt get even 1 point from their last 10 games. That is why they went down, not Carlos Tevez.

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