West Ham United Football Club News

• Nickname:Hammers
• Founded:1895
• Manager:Sam Allardyce

• Ground:Upton Park
• Capacity:35,595

Hammers in the clear

03 Jul 2007 - 14:46:51

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Sheffield United's appeal against West Ham United's punishment over the Carlos Tevez affair has been dismissed by an arbitration panel.

The Blades challenged the Premier League's decision to fine the Hammers and not dock them any points after the east London side were found guilty of including third-party agreements when they signed Tevez and Javier Mascherano last August.

West Ham were fined £5.5million in April and then went on to escape relegation from the Premier League on the final day of the season when they won at Manchester United and Sheffield United lost at home to Wigan Athletic.

Tuesday's three-man arbitration panel could not order the League to deduct points from the Hammers - but they did have the power to order a fresh independent disciplinary commission to look at the case.

The panel, headed by retired High Court judge Sir Philip Otton, decided to back the Premier League's decision on both counts - whether the decision by an independent disciplinary commission on April 27 to fine West Ham rather than dock points was legal, and whether the Premier League acted unlawfully by not de-registering Tevez.