Hammers to appeal against Tevez punishment

West Ham United said Wednesday they would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a potential 30-million pounds fine for their part in the Carlos Tevez affair.

A Football Association appointed tribunal ruled that Tevez had been instrumental in keeping West Ham in the Premier League two seasons ago when he was not eligible to play for them because of contractual irregularities.

But for Tevez's illegal contribution to the Hammers cause, Sheffield United could have survived in the top flight and the Yorkshire club are now seeking 30 million pounds in damages to cover lost television income, reduced player values and other losses incurred as a result of relegation.

A West Ham statement Wednesday said: “West Ham United can confirm today our lawyers are drafting a statement of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland in relation to the case involving the club and Sheffield United.”

It added: “While we respect the judgement of the FA arbitration panel, we do not accept that one player's contribution can be placed over that of the team nor used as the basis for judging the results of a 38-game season.”

The London club also said the ruling did not take “sufficient account” of the performances of the other 19 teams in English football's top-flight that season and stressed they'd already been punished once.

“We acknowledge again that the club broke the Premier League rules in the original signing of Carlos Tevez but we were dealt with accordingly by an independent Premier League commission and accepted the significant punishment (a 5.5 million pounds, nine million dollars, fine) handed down at that time.”

New West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola refused to blame the turmoil created by the tribunal's ruling for Tuesday's shock 1-0 League Cup exit at the hands of second-tier Championship side Watford.

Afterwards, former Chelsea star Zola admitted he was in the dark about the club's finances, but insisted he would not be overly concerned if there is no cash to spend during the next transfer window.

“Let me have these concerns if that happens,” he said. “It's something the club is handling right now, when the decision is made then we'll make some considerations.

“We have to keep working like this with this squad until January anyway.”

West Ham have dismissed reports that key players were sold last month in anticipation of the tribunal's ruling.

The departures of Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney triggered the resignation of Alan Curbishley as manager.

Argentine striker Tevez scored the winner as the Hammers won away to a Manchester United, the forward's current club, on the final day of the 2006/07 season to complete their revival at Sheffield United's expense.

Tevez and compatriot Javier Mascherano should have been ineligible to play under third-party ownership rules following complex transfers to West Ham.

They were found to have been 'partially-owned' by businessman Kia Joorabchian's Media Sports Investment (MSI) company.

Tevez last year joined Manchester United and Liverpool snapped up Mascherano.

Sheffield United chairman Kevin McCabe broke the news of the arbitration panel's ruling on Tuesday by saying: “The arbitration panel has awarded in our favour. The matter is still legally in process so I do not wish to comment any further until we have completed that process.”