West Ham & Portsmouth to lose points?

[Guest HHH]

http://www.sportinglife.com/story_get.cgi?...ual_115825.html

 

Portsmouth and West Ham are facing a possible points deduction after breaching Premiership rules by fielding ineligible players, according to reports.

 

The Daily Mail claims that a number of top-flight clubs are questioning whether the appearances of Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez for West Ham and Manuel Fernandes for Portsmouth were in violation of Premiership Rule U18.

 

Rule U18 states that: "No Club shall enter into a contract which enables any other party to that contract to acquire the ability materially to influence its policies or the performance of its teams."

 

This covers players owned by a third party, like Mascherano and Tevez, who are part owned by Kia Joorabchian, and Fernandes, who is partially owned by a private company called Global Sports Agency.

 

One possible breach of the rule is the widely-reported claim that if Manuel Fernandes played three consecutive games for Portsmouth, a sell-on clause in his contract would be automatically triggered.

 

Everton, who have taken Fernandes on loan for the remainder of the season, are one club reported to be demanding the points from their clash with Pompey earlier in the season, in which Fernandes featured.

 

The Premier League has insisted that they are unaware of on any breach of the rules.

 

"With what has been presented to us we haven't allowed anything that would transgress our rules," said a league spokesman.

 

But the Daily Mail claim they have come into a possession of a letter warning West Ham they risked a points deduction if they failed to produce the necessary documents for the transfers of Tevez and Mascherano in the summer.

 

The letter, obtained by the Mail from the Premier League, says they have contacted the 20 top-flight chairmen this week and offered them a 14 day amnesty to produce any contracts which breach rule U18 and were not disclosed when the player was registered.

 

West Ham released this statement on their official webiste: "West Ham United FC is fully co-operating with the FA Premier League in response to their recent letter to all Premier League clubs on player registration.

 

The Club is in the process of providing the relevant documentation as requested and is confident that this matter will be settled in the very near future."

 

 

 

 

Would this have any implications on our loan for Mascherano?

Edited February 2, 2007 by HHH

[Cheesecake]

points wise for us no, but if theyre giving a 14 day amnesty you can be certain that he wont be approved to play for us until after that date. The club wouldnt anyway as it would risk a pts deduction also.

 

If they do deduct points I'd imagine Pompey, WHU and any others would sue the a*** of the PL for authorising the transfers/loans in the first place. Maybe this is why the amnesty is in place i.e. - "repent now and no action will be taken". The PL can then wash it away with a claim that 'all is above board' with the transfers for the 1st half of the season.

 

What they will do for those transfers falling into this category in January is another matter altogether.