West Ham charged
Sunday, March 4, 2007
ENGLAND'S Premier League has charged West Ham with breaching ownership rules in buying Argentine players Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano last August.
The Premier League said on Friday its Board's view was that the transfers breached a rule that no club should enter into a contract enabling another party to influence its policies or its performances.
West Ham said they would "vigorously defend" themselves against the charge.
A statement on the League's website 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.
The pair were signed on the last day of the transfer window from Brazilian club Corinthians though mystery surrounded the details of the deal.
The deal was also not the first time West Ham and Corinthians have been linked. Just over a year earlier an investment group, Media Sport Investment, which bought Corinthians in 2004, were in negotiations to buy West Ham.
MSI, headed by Iranian-born businessman Kia Joorabchian, had talks with the West Ham Board in August 2005.
The deal, however, failed to go through.Reuters
The Premier League said on Friday its Board's view was that the transfers breached a rule that no club should enter into a contract enabling another party to influence its policies or its performances.
West Ham said they would "vigorously defend" themselves against the charge.
A statement on the League's website 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.
The pair were signed on the last day of the transfer window from Brazilian club Corinthians though mystery surrounded the details of the deal.
The deal was also not the first time West Ham and Corinthians have been linked. Just over a year earlier an investment group, Media Sport Investment, which bought Corinthians in 2004, were in negotiations to buy West Ham.
MSI, headed by Iranian-born businessman Kia Joorabchian, had talks with the West Ham Board in August 2005.
The deal, however, failed to go through.Reuters
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