Blades won't concede defeat

2007-07-04 19:47

London - Sheffield United refuses to concede defeat in their legal fight to avoid relegation from the Premier League and plan to take their case over West Ham's illegal signing of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano to Britain's High Court.

The Blades were furious that the Hammers weren't docked points over the illegal signing of the Argentina stars and were instead fined by an independent panel set up by the Premier League.

When the Hammers avoided relegation by winning their final game of the season and Sheffield United were demoted after losing, the Blades called on an arbitration panel to make a ruling on the original decision.

The arbitration panel dismissed the Blades' appeal on Tuesday but said it had sympathy for the club, who will play in the Football League Championship next season.

Sheffield United and Fulham - who kept their top flight spot - also failed in their bid to get the panel to rule on whether the Premier League acted unlawfully by not stripping Tevez of his league registration after Mascherano had moved on to Liverpool.

Tevez and Mascherano moved to West Ham from Brazil's Corinthians. It was later discovered the Hammers broke Premier League rules because their contracts were owned by a third party. West Ham's new owners admitted later in the season that the rules had been broken and the club was fined 5.5 million pounds in April.

The Premier League says that Sheffield United's appeal to the High Court was based on a minor legal point and it did not expect the Blades to win the case.

"It is a matter of record that the Premier League has acted at all times in accordance with our rule book and procedures," it said in a statement. "As such we expect this matter to be expedited as quickly as possible and, again, we will not be altering any plans for next season."

- AP