I was reading an article about today’s ruling in the Sheffield United v West Ham/Carlos Tevez affair and was interested to read several responses from the general public.  In a nutshell the issue was that Sheffield United were well clear of West Ham in the battle to stave off relegation until Carlos Tevez hit a rich vein of form and scored five goals in the last nine games to play a big part in West Ham’s eventual survival.  Sheffield United lost to Wigan on the last day while West Ham won at Old Trafford to stay up.

In the meantime it was ruled that Tevez’s economic rights were owned by a third-party (MSI) which was a breach of Premier League rules.  In April 2007 the Premier League fined West Ham £5.5m while Sheffield United and other clubs in the relegation mix at the time argued that they should be docked points.

Sheffield United have pursued the issue, today winning a ruling by an arbitration panel that West Ham should compensate them for the cost of relegation, sponsorship and other financial losses.

However, there seems to be some interesting opinions out there.  Taken from the above blog comments:

“Let it go boys and girls. It’s all in the past now.  West Ham paid their fine.  Sheffield Utd should’ve rolled their sleeves up and not strolled out on the last day of the season so cocky.  Only got themselves to blame.”

“The truth is that Sheffield United were relegated because they were not good enough to stay up. They didn’t get enough points. This decision is a victory for sore losers everywhere. It is a disgrace.”

“They were relegated because they let a 10 point lead slip and because they lost to Wigan on the last day of the season.”

And some others like that.  So let me present you with this:

1 January 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo announces that he is to resign from his position at Manchester United, issuing his club with a month’s notice.

31 Janaury 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo signs for Manchester City with City paying the value of his contract: £15m.

March 2009

Above the furore between the Premier League and the Manchester clubs, Ronaldo starts to find his form for the blue half of Manchester, scoring crucial goals against Blackburn and Middlesbrough.  United, ten points clear in fourth, of seventh place City, start to lose their way with Bolton and Newcastle stealing shock wins over the Champions.

April 2009

Despite stuffing City 3-0 in the Manchester derby, United’s form is patchy as they pick up just one point in the next two games.  City are thrashed by Chelsea but beat Everton to close the gap on fourth place.

27 April 2009

The Premier League return their verdict, fining Manchester City £5.5m after City successfully threaten the spineless governing body with a European Court of Human Rights case that could bring down the transfer system.

May 2009

United are shell-shocked and pick up just one win in their final three games while City take nine points to leapfrog United in fourth, Ronaldo scoring the winning goal in their final game.

The Aftermath

United contineue to argue that Ronaldo’s registration is not legal in accordance with Premier League rules and that City should have been deducted points.  They have lost a star player for a fraction of his market value, an estimated £50m by missing out on Champions League qualification, various sponsorship deals and other commercial opportunities.

2010

United win an arbitration panel ruling that will hardly soften the blow of missing out yet again on the Champions League in 2010.

The expected response

“Let it go boys and girls. It’s all in the past now.  Man City paid their fine.  Manchester Utd should’ve rolled their sleeves up and not strolled out on the last day of the season so cocky.  Only got themselves to blame.”

“The truth is that Manchester United missed out on the Champions League because they were not good enough to stay up. They didn’t get enough points. This decision is a victory for sore losers everywhere. It is a disgrace.”

“They missed out on the Champions League because they let a 10 point lead slip and because they lost to Wigan on the last day of the season.”

Ok, a bit of an extreme example but I had to get the point across.