Sheffield United Lose Again

And thus ends a drama that was hardly more than a game of charades. In a ruling that is hardly unexpected, an arbitration panel has decided that the English Premier League’s punishment of West Ham was sufficient. As a result, Sheffield United’s dreams of staying in the Premiership through legal action have been squelched. Get thee to the Championship!

Did anyone actually think that Sheffield United would be playing in the Premiership during the 2007/2008 season? I sure didn’t. The Blades sure did.

“We are obviously very disappointed by this conclusion in particular in circumstances where the tribunal recognised that the outcome of the (commission’s) decision turned out to be, in the panel’s own words, ‘unfortunate in the extreme’ and that Sheffield United have done nothing to merit this outcome,” the Blades said in a statement.

“We are currently considering these findings with our professional advisers.”

It is hard to find a sympathetic actor in all of this. West Ham broke the rules and were “deliberately deceitful” in their sketchy-from-the-beginning signings of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Sheffield United was “deliberately whiny” (my quote) about the whole affair. After all, this was a club that would never have stepped a foot in the courtroom were it not for an end of the season loss against Wigan. The English FA come off looking like a joke for letting the whole situation even reach this point.

Thank god it is all over. Actually, don’t thank god. He doesn’t need you wasting his time on any of this.

Some Related Stories:

Category: English Premier League, World Football