West Ham would probably like a do-over

By: Bob | March 2nd, 2007

It doesn’t seem so long ago that West Ham were giddy over signing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. How has that worked out? Mascherano was loaned out to Liverpool after collecting dust on the bench. Tevez has yet to score a Premiership goal. The club is in a relegation battle. And now West Ham have been charged with breaching ownership rules when they acquired the Argentine duo.

Talk about rubbing salt in the wounds.

A statement on the League’s Web site said the Board had submitted a complaint that agreements were in place in the case of both transfers to enable “third parties to acquire the ability materially to influence the Club’s policies…or the performance of its teams.”

The League did not name the third parties.

“At the time of the transfer agreements for both Tevez and Mascherano, and until January 24, 2007, West Ham United failed to disclose the third-party agreements to the Premier League and/or deliberately withheld these agreements,” the Premier League said.

Even at the time of signing things smelled like spoiled ham and now West Ham face a fine and a possible points reduction, which would almost certainly mean relegation. I suspect in years to come Tevez and Mascherano will be used interchangeably with curse words at Upton Park.