Read it and weep, Blades
Hindsight is often failures only friend, and it’s important to learn from your mistakes. In the case of Sheffield United, the lesson is to play better when you’re up against the best teams in the land - that’s how you stay in the top flight.
Here’s some proof that handsome Mr Tevez really had nothing to do with it:
* Four of West Ham’s seven wins at the end of the 2006-07 season were by a one-goal margin. Of those, Bobby Zamora scored the winning goal in three, while Carlos Tevez grabbed the decider in just one. Of course, that game was the 1-0 win at Old Trafford on the final day.
* The Daily Telegraph’s football correspondent Henry Winter was asked by the tribunal to discuss Tevez’s impact and he made the point that West Ham wouldn’t have scored in that game were it not for Tevez. However, if the game finished goalless, West Ham would still have finished 16th.
* Sheffield United played West Ham during West Ham’s run of seven wins from nine games and despite Carlos Tevez playing every second of the game, the Blades still won the match 3-0. Should West Ham be given these three points back?
* With nine games remaining in the season, Sheffield United led West Ham by eleven points, despite the fact Carlos Tevez was at the club for 26 of the 29 games played, over which period the Blades picked up fourteen more points than West Ham.
* The fact Sheffield United blew an eleven point lead over the final nine games, a period that even included a 3-0 victory over the Hammers, must surely be blamed on themselves.
And revealingly:
West Ham without Tevez:
P12 W4 D3 L5 Points per game: 1.25
West Ham with Tevez:
P26 W8 D2 L16 Points per game: 1
21 responses so far
1 Peter Robinson // Sep 24, 2008 at 3:17 pm
The problem is that the facts don’t seem to matter to the arbitration. The think that *possibly* West Ham would have got 3 less points without Tevez - well thats a big bit of guess work to shop someone for around £30mill.
2 BladeSheffield // Sep 24, 2008 at 3:57 pm
What a load of cobblers! You can make statistics out of anything you want to.
The fact of the matter is, and there is no denying that you had a player capable of playing for the best team in the land (and appropriatly now does) playing up front and scoring goals, you won against Man Utd to keep you up for heavens sake.
How you can say that a 5.5m fine was appropriate rather than a point deduction is unbeknown to me, although on this point I do feel the FA made that mistake and not Wet Spam.
3 George Savva // Sep 24, 2008 at 3:59 pm
More to the point…..All Sheff Utd had to do was win one home game against Wigan at the end of the season and they would have been safe rather than the two clubs attempting to contrive a draw and assuming West Ham would cave in at Old Trafford.
4 Upminster Iron // Sep 24, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Blade - so your argument is that we had a good player and West Ham shouldn’t be allowed to have a good player? Nice one!
Seeing as you can make statistics out of anything, how about you make some as to why Tevez specifically was the reason we closed an 11-point gap on you. Or maybe you can provide a precedent case that proves we should be deducted points? And maybe you can explain how your third-party influence over Steve Kabba for your win against Watford was okay?
You can, can’t you?
Oh and…
“you won against Man Utd to keep you up”
As the article says, a draw would have been enough for us. The real truth is “you lost against Wigan to send you down.” If you’d won against Wigan we’d still have stayed up - so basically your relegation had nothing to do with us. You beat us 3-0 with Tevez after all.
5 Peter Robinson // Sep 24, 2008 at 4:06 pm
We didnt need to win at Man U to keep us up - you were so poor you contrived to lose an 11 point advantage over West Ham in NINE games!! And for your info Zamora scored more goals in the run in and across the season than Tevez - but that’s conveniently forgotten isnt it.
6 George Savva // Sep 24, 2008 at 4:07 pm
To BladeSheffield :
Small correction…..had Tevez not played and noone had scored, West Ham would still have stayed up…..they only needed a draw !
I think it is also comical how Wigan made such a noise over this and Sheff Utd made no noise until they lost this 11 point gap and got relegated at which point, Wigan shut up……talk about clutching at straws !
7 BladeSheffield // Sep 25, 2008 at 12:40 pm
lets all laugh at west ham, lets all laugh at west ham na na na na oh, na na na na oh!!!
All we’ve heard from west Ham since this whole thing started is united didn’t play well enough and it was our own fault we got sent down. let me remind you, YOU CHEATED. You gave yourselves an unfair advantage with the signing of 2 top class players by third party ownership. and were punished in a manner that didn’t reflect the advantage you had gained.
After acting like p**cks of the highest order, like kids who’ll lie and cheat at whatever the cost, you then go and agree to an arbitration on the grounds that whatever the verdict there shall be no appeal, you then go and appeal.
From the begining of this whole saga you’ve lied and then lied again and your now starting to look like a joke of a football club, dishonourable to the highest order and incapable of seeing anything from anybodies perspective but your own. You cheated, you weren’t punished appropriately, (which I said in my earlier post the FA should take some of the flack for) and that all affected other clubs, in particular the mighty blades being relegated.
I hope you go on to see things with more perspective, and if you don’t I hope your made to really feel the consequences of what happens when you cheat. You should have been made an example of well before now.
Upminster iron we got found not guilty about the kabba thing so stop talking made up things and lets go with the facts shall we?
8 Upminster Iron // Sep 25, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Right, Blades fans need to stop listening to Warnock and McCabe’s lies:
-Third-party ownership is allowed
-So we can’t appeal - but you could appeal as many times as you wanted until you won?
-Maybe you’re just scared that we’ll win this time, which we will with better lawyers and a better hearing that doesn’t rely on Henry Winter’s opinion!
-In my ever-so-slightly-biased eyes you are far more of a laughing stock than us
-How do you judge an appropriate punishment when there was no precedent case? You claim it should be three points because it suits you - why not two?
-It didn’t affect you when you beat us 3-0 with Tevez playing. You can’t just ignore that. On the final day it was a loss at home to 10-man Wigan that sent you down. If you won we’d have still stayed up.
-We didn’t cheat. The third-party clause that was controversial was one that allowed Tevez to be moved on without notice - how does that benefit us?
-You got off of the Kabba thing because it wasn’t in writing but it’s clear to anyone that you exerted third-party influence and benefitted.
9 Tom // Sep 25, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Lying, eh?
Reminds me of the time McCabe organised that march for justice or whatever it was called, campaign for fairness in football I think?
All about fairness in football, eh? I’ll bet you £30m that it’s nothing to do with fairness, but everything to do with money.
And if you think your club will significantly benefit from that money, prepare to be disappointed. McCabe didn’t get to be where he is now but spunking £30m. It’ll go right in his pocket.
10 ChingfordHammer // Sep 25, 2008 at 1:16 pm
BladesSheffield, i think you should rename yourself “BitterSheffield”.
As someones said above, stop listening to McCabe and Warnock’s propaganda. I mean, Warnock hung around for a long time when you went down, did’nt he.
I bet he was gutted when no PL team wanted his canny skills to lead their team to relegation(again) and ended up at Crystal Palace. Because they’re doing really well at the moment, where are they, 4th from bottom. Looks like Neil’s working his magic on them…….hahahahahaha
11 Jagielka = 8 million! // Sep 25, 2008 at 1:38 pm
So even ignoring the Premier League’s own statement that Tevez was eligible for all 35 league games between September and May, Sheffield United fans argue we wouldn’t have stayed up without Tevez. Funny then that on the two seasons either side of that we finished in the top half without Tevez and reached an FA Cup Final. How do you explain that?
Also, if the whole Sheffield United staying up argument pins on Tevez and a series of ‘What Ifs’, how about this one:
If Tevez didn’t arrive there is a strong chance that the series of events that led to Alan Pardew’s sacking wouldn’t have happened. In turn, that would have meant that Charlton would have appointed a different manager in December - perhaps getting Mr Curbishley back. Considering Curbs was able to turn West Ham’s season around with a squad in disarray and players he didn’t know, he’d have stood a great chance of turning Charlton’s around when he knew most of the players and would have had the full support of everyone at their club. In the massive ‘What If’ scenario that you are claiming £30 million for, I reckon there’s every chance Charlton would have stayed up at your expense anyway.
And the fact your fans are celebrating the fact you could potentially bankrupt another club is dispicable. Considering McCabe almost certainly budgeted for relegation anyway, I would bet that you are already in a far more stable financial position than West Ham without stealing £30 million from them.
12 Barca // Sep 25, 2008 at 5:46 pm
West Ham cheated.
FA bottled it.
Big mess.
West Ham fans - I’m sorry, but your directors created this mess. Pay up.
13 norven munky // Sep 25, 2008 at 9:54 pm
what if the Kabba decision was appealed and appealed and appealed until some tribunal found that there was 3rd party influence?
Not that anyone would be petulant enough to appeal and appeal and appeal until they found someone sympathetic or stupid enough to agree with them….No wait.
Fact is West Ham were hung drawn and quartered because potentially someone *could* have exerted 3rd party influence but *never actually did*.
The blunts *did* exert 3rd party influence and got away with it because there was nothing in writing.
Karma’s a coming…
14 Tom // Sep 26, 2008 at 9:26 am
Yeah we “cheated” (although it was with paperwork and not actually on the field) and we were given a record fine for it. Plus it has absolutely nothing to do with Sheff U.
There was absolutely no precedence for a points deduction, McCabe plucked that out of the air.
15 George Savva // Sep 26, 2008 at 11:44 am
Also…..just remember one thing….when you had your big season out and got into the prem, you by default sign up to a mandate saying that you will accept any punishment given out by the FA. So when West Ham were found guilty of fielding an irregular player they were fined 5.5M which by default you must agree to.
That was early in the season and you didn’t throw your toys out of the pram until your substandard team failed to win any games at the end of the season apart from beating West Ham ironically so where does Tevez fit into that.
My opinion is, you can have the 30M though its unlikely to end up at that amount since you would have to give back the parachute payment but as far as laughing at West Ham, remember this :
1) With £30M prem money last season you still didn’t win enough games to finish outside the bottom three
2) With the money this season your ‘mighty blades’ will still buy a few long ball merchants and flounder where you belong in the middle of the championship table
3) We still sit 6th in the prem and however much bitching and moaning you do, that will not change so its us that are laughing at you
4) Warnock thought so much of the ‘mighty blades’ that he legged it to Crystal Palace….thats where you are in the scheme of things.
As far as the players suing West Ham….perhaps if they had pulled their finger out and made an effort last season they might have finished in a respectable place though given the standard of players you bought with the prem money, I doubt it :o)
16 tc // Oct 1, 2008 at 12:35 pm
What makes me laugh is that if the boot was on the other foot WH fans would definitely be putting the blame where it should lie - the players and manager. I’ve yet to hear any Sheff Utd supporter even criticize the players and manager. So come on Blade, do you fully and totally support your mostly ex-players? And how do you feel about them trying to jump on the bandwagon and get compensation for their ‘lost’ earnings? They should be ashamed. WH supporters never supported the board or the bureacrats at our club who got us into this mess but then we’re not sheep.
17 Adam // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:04 pm
who ever wrote this article is a retard. Even if the only game Teves helped with was Man U, it still got them the 3 points they needed. They broke the rules, and now cant face the punishment for it
18 George Savva // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Adam….you are a retard….West Ham didn’t need 3 points to survive on the last day, they needed one…If Tevez hadn’t scored, West Ham would have stayed up…..! By your argument, the only team with a gripe would be Fulham as the 2 extra points just put WHU above them and reduced their prize money.
Get your facts right and by the way…..Tevez was just at fault when playing poorly against Sheff UTD….a game West Ham lost 0-3 whereas if Zamora had played (given he scored in most of the other games right at the end of the season) then maybe they would have been safe
And if Sheff UTD had beaten Wigan at home, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway
19 Unbias // Oct 3, 2008 at 10:57 am
Both sides are missing the whole point because they are caught up in their own little causes. It has nothing to do with the results while Tevez was at West Ham or how many goals he scored. It is all about West Ham breaking the rules and cheating the system. Sheffield United should not blame the West Ham fans for being angry and bitter about it because it is not their fault their team was being run by crooks. West Ham fans should think about who they would feel if it was the other way around and West Ham had been relegated and it was Arsenal who had broken the rules? Don’t pretend you’d let it go. The whole fault lies with the Premier League because I think everyone in football understands that West Ham should have been docked points in the same way that teams in the Football League have been.
20 Upminster Iron // Oct 3, 2008 at 11:19 am
My understanding of cheating is to gain an advantage by unfair means - we didn’t do that. We breached a rule that allowed the lovable Kia to take Tevez and Mascherano away from us whenever he pleased - something that disadvantaged us. The only people our rule breach cheated was ourselves.
Yes we broke the rules but we were punished with a record £5.5 million fine. Had West Ham been relegated, our fans would have blamed our own players, coaching staff and ownership rather than looking for excuses, just as we did in 2002-03 and were in the process of doing before our great escape in 2006-07.
21 Unbias // Oct 3, 2008 at 7:27 pm
Exactly, you ‘breached a rule’ for which the majority of football followers thought you should have been docked points, as has happened to teams in the football league. At the time of the fine most people were surprised that West Ham were not docked points.
However, I think both sets of fans should just leave it to the lawyers to sort out and just worry about cheering on their team, you are never going to agree with each other.
Although the news that Bolton, Wigan, Sheffield United players and ex-players are looking into legal action again the club would worry me if I was on the West Ham bored. I wonder who will be sold in January.