West Ham United are considering lodging a formal appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against an independent tribunal’s decision to rule in favour of Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair.
It is understood West Ham will make a decision within 48 hours, with club officials holding talks with lawyers last night over whether to contest the award. The discussions come despite Football Association rules suggesting there was no right of appeal.
The tribunal ruled that Sheffield United should be compensated, and with the Championship club looking for up to £30m from the Hammers, board members at Upton Park were said to be “furious and surprised” when informed of the decision.
West Ham are questioning whether the FA’s rule K5c – which states that by agreeing to the independent tribunal “the parties shall be deemed to have waived irrevocably any right to appeal, review or any recourse to a court of law” prevents them challenging the ruling.
West Ham were found guilty of breaching rules in relation to the registration of Tevez and Javier Mascherano in April 2007. The club were fined £5.5m by the FA but McCabe insisted points should have been docked and, after failing with an appeal, invoked an FA rule allowing clubs to go before an independent tribunal.
The tribunal suggested that without the Argentinian, West Ham would have “achieved at least three points less overall” and, as a consequence, would have been relegated to the Championship instead of Sheffield United.
West Ham dispute the fairness of the £30m demanded by United and also believe the tribunal’s ruling has set a dangerous precedent.
However, experts believe there is little chance of West Ham overturning the ruling.
“My take is that West Ham have no right of appeal either to the English courts or the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” Steven Friel, partner and expert in arbitration with Davies Arnold Cooper solicitors. told
