Arbitration Panel Rules Against Sheffield Utd

Sheffield United has failed in its bid to regain FA Premier League status after
an arbitration panel upheld the league’s view that a financial fine was
sufficient punishment for West Ham’s indiscretions in the transfer market.

With Sheffield United having been relegated on the last day of the season and
West Ham retaining its top-flight status, the former club had launched a
vociferous appeal that the Hammers should have been docked points as well as the
£5.5m fine they received over the illegal registration of Carlos Tevez and
Javier Mascherano.

However the three-man arbitration panel, headed by retired High Court judge
Sir Philip Otton, decided against ordering a new independent commission to judge
the case, effectively ending Sheffield United’s appeal.

The panel’s ruling stated: ‘The tribunal had much sympathy for Sheffield
United’s grievances. However, the tribunal had to apply the principles of
judicial review and determine whether the decision was irrational or perverse.

‘This is a very strict test and is very difficult to satisfy. It concluded
that it was impossible for this tribunal to find that the decision was
irrational or perverse.’

A statement on Sheffield United’s website said: ‘We are obviously very
disappointed by this conclusion. In particular, in circumstances where the
tribunal recognised that the outcome of the decision turned out to be
‘unfortunate in the extreme’, and that Sheffield United have done nothing wrong
to merit this outcome.’