Blades accept out of court settlement

Sheffield United has agreed to an out of court settlement in their dispute with West Ham United over Carlos Tevez.

The row began after it emerged that West Ham did not own Carlos Tevez when played in the crucial game that kept West Ham up and sent Sheffield United down. At the time Tevez was owned by Kia Joorabchian.

The fact that West Ham did not own Tevez when he scored the winning goal against Manchester United puts the result in dispute along with the consequences of West Ham’s win. After the issue was raised by Sheffield United the F.A decided to fine West Ham a total of £5½ million however the F.A did not deduct any points from the team which kept West Ham in the Premiership

The initial sum that Sheffield United wanted from West Ham was in the region of £45 million however the club settled for half than this amount receiving £4 million every year for the next five years.

West Ham’s decision to pay off Sheffield United outside of court has now opened up the doors for other individuals and organisations that lost out due to Carlos Tevez’s goal and Sheffield United relegation.

Neil Warnock has revealed that he amongst former players of Sheffield United will pursue personal claims against West Ham for the losses that they incurred as a consequence of the Sheffield team going down into the Championship.

Chris Farnell, the lawyer acting on behalf of the players, said: “The players’ claim will continue independently and we made correspondence with West Ham’s lawyers as recently as the end of the week.” Even in the unlikely event that Warnock and his former players choose against pursuing West Ham for compensation, the saga surrounding the issue is yet to be completed.

Michal Lodej, The Steel Bugle