Villa – West Ham Statement

Villa have released a statement surrounding the West Ham situation and the possibility of legal action following their survival.

It reads:

There has been much speculation surrounding the potential of legal action against the Premier League’s sanction on West Ham United and their fielding of ineligible players.

Aston Villa’s position is that we have been following the Premier League’s agreed strategy and we are awaiting a detailed update in the next few days, when we are expecting an explanation of some of the complexities of this scenario.

end…

No doubt the dealings at West Ham were ‘dodgy’ BUT it is my belief that the 20 Premier League chairmen agreed the three members of the independent committee (all lawyers I believe) and signed an agreement to go with whatever the tribunal said. The decision was a £5.5million fine as opposed to the docking of points. If Dave Whelan or the other chairman did sign an agreement to be bound by the terms, then I’m sorry, tough! If not, then this could play and play.

The issue at hand has to be why the FA and PL don’t have set rules and also, why is it one rule for one and not for others? (eg AFC Wimbledon were docked 18 points – later amended to 3 for a similar infraction. Bury were thrown out of the FA Cup for a breach of rules, even the likes of Rotherham and more recently Leeds were docked 10 points for going into receivership). So if the penalties are clear for others, why weren’t they clear for West Ham? Do the FA no longer control the PL, if that is the case, then it should be made clear to us all.

It can’t be that difficult to set the rules, lets face it, if we get caught speeding we know we’ll get 3 points on our license + a fine. Sort it out FA and PL, the last thing this game needs is for relegation and/or promotion to be decided in the courts.

To be fair, West Ham should be fined for fielding Tevez anyway, puts me right off my dinner looking at that ugly mug, although if Villa were to buy him, I’d get over that, what a player!