by Roger Blitz
Published: May 15 2007 15:03 | Last updated: May 15 2007 15:03
Fifa, football’s world governing body, is to investigate the Premier League’s handling of its inquiry into West Ham United and its subsequent disciplinary action against the club over the controversial signings of Argentinian players Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
Sepp Blatter, Fifa’s president, said on Tuesday it had the right to look into the transfers regardless of whether their intervention was requested. He added Fifa’s powers over individual clubs extended to expulsion from leagues and deduction of points.
The Premier League last month fined West Ham £5.5m over breaches of league rules because the club’s contracts with the players involved a third party.
The Premier League chose to fine the club rather than deduct points, a move which would have almost certainly led to the club’s relegation a move that in effect could have cost the club £30m because of the top division’s lucrative television deals.
The fine has prompted several clubs involved in this season’s relegation struggle to threaten legal action.
West Ham avoided relegation on Sunday by winning its last game of the season at champions Manchester United, Tevez scoring the only goal.
Mr Blatter told reporters at Fifa headquarters in Zurich: ”We are monitoring this situation very carefully and we will ourselves look at the files once it has been dealt with by the English league and the Football Association.
”We will look at this, and not only if we are asked. We will do it anyway.” Any investigation would be completed in time for the start of next season.
Fifa has left disciplinary issues against clubs to the national associations. But in January, a Swiss federal court ruled in favour of Fifa after Rayo Vallecano, a Spanish third division club, claimed the governing body had no right to threaten it with relegation for failure to pay transfer fees owed to a Brazilian club.
”The court said that Fifa and its associations have the right and power to use all foreseen sanctions in the Fifa disciplinary code, starting with a warning and ending with exclusion via relegation or the deduction of points,” Mr Blatter said.
Although the players came to West Ham in August, the Premier League only investigated their transfers when Mascherano was subsequently transferred to Liverpool in January.
West Ham, which was sold to new owners halfway through the season, pleaded guilty to the charge that it broke two league rules.
The Premier League is expected to issue a statement later on Tuesday, but insiders in the league said it would be ironic if Fifa were to investigate the application of a rule the governing body itself did not apply.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
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Hammers furore puts strain on Scudamore
Paul Kelso
Tuesday May 15, 2007
Guardian
Ongoing unrest among Premier League clubs over West Ham United's signing of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano has again delayed resolution of the Stevens bungs inquiry, and could yet impact on other sensitive negotiations facing the chief executive Richard Scudamore.
A statement on Stevens was delayed from last week and will now be held over for at least another seven days as Scudamore attempts to kill off the Tevez affair. The Premier League board - Scudamore, chairman Dave Richards and company secretary Mike Foster - has yet to meet and decide what action to take, but with some clubs uncomfortable about Stevens, it has the power to cause further unrest.
The Tevez rebellion poses one of the biggest tests of Scudamore's eight-year leadership. Having delivered a record £2.7bn television deal to the chairmen, he might have expected more support but the issue could also complicate negotiations over a new redistribution deal due to be discussed at the league AGM on June 1. A compromise acceptable to a majority of clubs may be harder to fashion as a result of the fall-out of the last week.
Richards' role has also been the subject of debate, with some asking whether the chairman has done enough to quell the revolt. He often acts as a lightning rod for discontent among chairmen but whatever interventions he has made have failed. Richards is thought to have been informed of the gentlemen's agreement between Manchester United and Everton not to play Tim Howard, something Scudamore insists he was not aware of.
Caborn keeps mum
Sports minister and Sheffield United fan Richard Caborn is keeping his own counsel on the Tevez furore but the affair strengthens his argument in favour of his European Review of Sport. The review recommends stronger governing bodies so that divisive issues are settled by sport rather than in the courts. The Premier League, which opposes the review, would, in this instance, agree.
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