The West Ham Incident

In a move that will cause them no end of problems in coming seasons, the FA/Premier League have decided NOT to dock West Ham any points, despite knowingly fielding illegal players.

The reason given (well, one of many bizarre reasons), is that this close to the end of the season, it would almost certainly condemn them to relegation. How that should affect this situation is something being discussed by football fans across the UK.

Other teams have had points deducted for the very same reason, even when it has happened accidentally, as opposed to West Ham's deliberate ploy of hiding the details of the deals from the league authorities.

The "independent" committee decided that an £8million+ fine would be better for everyone concerned at this stage of the season. But as West Ham admitted that they had broken the rules, they reduced the actual payment to £5.5million.

Of course, as everyone in the Premiership knows, staying up this season means that you'll qualify for next season's higher payouts (something like £20-£50million per team), so £5.5million is just a minor irritation.

One quote that caught my eye was "No-one wants to see a team relegated for something like this. points should be decided on the pitch." Well maybe if the other teams in the bottom 6 or 7 had fielded illegal players as well then it would be fair, but as they haven't, then West Ham have had a distinct advantage over their fellow teams.

Tevez looks like he's responsible in whole or part for around 16 points, which would have condemned West Ham to relegation anyway. Yet he still plays!

I fully expect lawyers to take up the case as and when the lower teams know whether West Ham are staying up or not. If they are going down anyway, then they are not robbing anyone of a place in the Premier League. If they are staying up, however, they are ensuring that a team that did follow the rules goes down. That's not sporting.