Paying the Price of Stupidity
The Late Flag was as vocal as anybody about the Carlos Tevez - West Ham cheat situation, whereby they stayed up having avoided a seemingly inevitable points deduction and through being allowed to continue fielding Tevez. This week an independent tribunal will rule whether Sheffield United are correct in insisting the wrong decision was made by the Premier League.
Personally I feel that United have been hard done by. News reports were full of how West Ham were about to be docked points, so you can understand why Sheffield United felt they might have been safe. True, the Premier League is not responsible for the comments of the media, but surely they could have at least suggested in an interview or article somewhere that there was a chance a points deduction wouldn’t be imposed? They allowed it to be perceived as a foregone conclusion.
So you’d have to say the decision was strange, and the conduct of the Premier League throughout the lengthy decision making process was unproductive at best. And you’d assume this is why United are appealing the decision. Well you would, unless you actually thought about it for two minutes.
What exactly will the outcome of all this be? Assuming United win their tribunal, what will the Premier League actually DO about the fact they made a wrong decision? Relegating West Ham is one option, although this is extremely unlikely. West Ham have begun negotiating transfers for various players, and their spending plan is clearly based on the fact that they stayed up. It would be ridiculously harsh and completely farcical to relegate the Hammers now. Another option is to allow Sheffield United back into the Premiership for next season, making it a 21-team league. Bearing in mind FIFA and UEFA have been badgering major nations to cut back to 18 teams in a league for years now, I can’t see the Premier League deciding to risk their wrath by further increasing English fixture congestion. Clubs, players and even the National team would probably have something to say about extra games in a season too. So that’s a non-starter.
What we’re effectively left with then, is the scenario of Sheffield United being compensated by the Premier League for their shock relegation and as an apology for having been found by a tribunal to have been the victims of an incorrect judgement. So this isn't really about who'll be in the Premiership next year, or Sheffield United's pride or principle - this is about money. Again, some may suggest this is fair enough, being relegated costs a lot of money after all. I however, am absolutely f**king furious that this is a likely outcome.
Despite sympathising to a large degree with The Blades’ plight, I cannot understand how West Ham not being docked points led to Sheffield United not being able to pick up enough results to survive. Taking away the whole furore about West Ham for a second, Warnock & co could easily pick up a copy of the league table, work out how many points West Ham could possibly get if they won every game and didn’t get a deduction, and strive to ensure their side eclipsed this points total. You’re not telling me Sheffield United went in to any game saying “It’s alright lads, we don’t need to try. West Ham are going to be deducted points, so we can lose deliberately and we’ll still stay up.” Basically, Sheffield United didn’t get enough points to survive. Had West Ham been deducted points and then had them reinstated, I could understand the need for compensation, as United would have based their requirements to survive on West Ham’s points total, which would have then increased unexpectedly.
But this isn’t what happened. Sheffield United took their foot off the gas during the last 6 or 7 games of the season because they thought they were safe. They assumed West Ham would get a points deduction, and were proved wrong. By the time they found this out, it was too late to save themselves, and a bit more effort in previous games could well have seen them staying up. Now if you’re the fan of a Premier League club, I’d like to ask you one question. Do you feel that Sheffield United, because they made an incorrect assumption about the points total of another team, deserve to be compensated with money that was otherwise earmarked to be divided between your club and all the others in the league?
I certainly don’t. I’m absolutely furious that having been relegated due to their own stupidity, and falling foul of the old adage ‘to assume makes an ass of you & me,’ United are likely to take a huge compensation package straight out of the pockets of my club and yours. If they’d took care of their own bloody results and got enough points that West Ham couldn’t catch them, deduction or not, then none of this would be happening.
Sheffield United were unlucky, and over complacent. I do feel sorry for them. But not enough to go handing out anywhere near the £50m compensation package they’re asking for, or any other sort of monetary compensation. The three teams with the lowest number of points at the end of a season go down. United knew that when they got promoted, and they have no-one to blame but themselves if they assumed they were safe because West Ham would have points docked. Why should we pay for their misfortune?
Personally I feel that United have been hard done by. News reports were full of how West Ham were about to be docked points, so you can understand why Sheffield United felt they might have been safe. True, the Premier League is not responsible for the comments of the media, but surely they could have at least suggested in an interview or article somewhere that there was a chance a points deduction wouldn’t be imposed? They allowed it to be perceived as a foregone conclusion.
So you’d have to say the decision was strange, and the conduct of the Premier League throughout the lengthy decision making process was unproductive at best. And you’d assume this is why United are appealing the decision. Well you would, unless you actually thought about it for two minutes.
What exactly will the outcome of all this be? Assuming United win their tribunal, what will the Premier League actually DO about the fact they made a wrong decision? Relegating West Ham is one option, although this is extremely unlikely. West Ham have begun negotiating transfers for various players, and their spending plan is clearly based on the fact that they stayed up. It would be ridiculously harsh and completely farcical to relegate the Hammers now. Another option is to allow Sheffield United back into the Premiership for next season, making it a 21-team league. Bearing in mind FIFA and UEFA have been badgering major nations to cut back to 18 teams in a league for years now, I can’t see the Premier League deciding to risk their wrath by further increasing English fixture congestion. Clubs, players and even the National team would probably have something to say about extra games in a season too. So that’s a non-starter.
What we’re effectively left with then, is the scenario of Sheffield United being compensated by the Premier League for their shock relegation and as an apology for having been found by a tribunal to have been the victims of an incorrect judgement. So this isn't really about who'll be in the Premiership next year, or Sheffield United's pride or principle - this is about money. Again, some may suggest this is fair enough, being relegated costs a lot of money after all. I however, am absolutely f**king furious that this is a likely outcome.
Despite sympathising to a large degree with The Blades’ plight, I cannot understand how West Ham not being docked points led to Sheffield United not being able to pick up enough results to survive. Taking away the whole furore about West Ham for a second, Warnock & co could easily pick up a copy of the league table, work out how many points West Ham could possibly get if they won every game and didn’t get a deduction, and strive to ensure their side eclipsed this points total. You’re not telling me Sheffield United went in to any game saying “It’s alright lads, we don’t need to try. West Ham are going to be deducted points, so we can lose deliberately and we’ll still stay up.” Basically, Sheffield United didn’t get enough points to survive. Had West Ham been deducted points and then had them reinstated, I could understand the need for compensation, as United would have based their requirements to survive on West Ham’s points total, which would have then increased unexpectedly.
But this isn’t what happened. Sheffield United took their foot off the gas during the last 6 or 7 games of the season because they thought they were safe. They assumed West Ham would get a points deduction, and were proved wrong. By the time they found this out, it was too late to save themselves, and a bit more effort in previous games could well have seen them staying up. Now if you’re the fan of a Premier League club, I’d like to ask you one question. Do you feel that Sheffield United, because they made an incorrect assumption about the points total of another team, deserve to be compensated with money that was otherwise earmarked to be divided between your club and all the others in the league?
I certainly don’t. I’m absolutely furious that having been relegated due to their own stupidity, and falling foul of the old adage ‘to assume makes an ass of you & me,’ United are likely to take a huge compensation package straight out of the pockets of my club and yours. If they’d took care of their own bloody results and got enough points that West Ham couldn’t catch them, deduction or not, then none of this would be happening.
Sheffield United were unlucky, and over complacent. I do feel sorry for them. But not enough to go handing out anywhere near the £50m compensation package they’re asking for, or any other sort of monetary compensation. The three teams with the lowest number of points at the end of a season go down. United knew that when they got promoted, and they have no-one to blame but themselves if they assumed they were safe because West Ham would have points docked. Why should we pay for their misfortune?
5 comments:
fair enough utd are hard done by but the whole thing is a little sour grapes to me, they didnt get enough points to stay up so thats their fault. i recall i never showed any sympathy to utd as i was happy they went down and now this whole case has just made me even more satisfied that they are relegated and looking at their faces when the verdict comes back against them. the whole thing about the media saying that they were going to dock them points is the whole problem with the media lying to sell their papers and predicting their own theories, sounds like the whole michael owen thing to me with the media predicting man utd will buy him and then liverpool and when none of them were interested that meant arsenal were interested- me personally i am bored of the owen thing and wish it would be settled soon so big sam can prepare his team - i dont think anybody wud pay 9million for a player who hasnt played much in 2 seasons- if he stays and then him and viduka and martins have a good half of season then he will go in jan and the top clubs may risk the cash on him. the owen viduka partnership looks on paper to be a good one and i would like to see it. but if u belive the media he wont be there but everything has gone quiet for now. the west ham thing is main thing media is talking about again but what will they talk about when this has blown over- it will be owen again.
...or let's not forget the classic Henry/Wenger/Arsenal Tea lady to Barca story that crops up every damn year.
You're right like. There are certain issues that come up every single summer without fail, and you really need to try and ignore it, bearing in mind it all came to nothing last year, or the year before.
That's why I wanted to comment on this Sheff Utd stuff, at least it's not the same old "Benitez to Madrid" or "Henry to Barca" bollocks. For once we've actually got a new story this summer, albeit a greedy, money-grabbing tale of a bitter team who weren't good enough to stay up.
Still, I'd rather talk about that than Thierry Henry.
the henry story is old news as well and is also v boring just like the owen thing, still waiting on verdict about sheff utd but hopefully this will end with them still stewing on relegation but yes i hate west ham also and now esp since they have bought toons captain parker, i think hes a huge loss and hes a twat for leaving but if hes homesick fair enough but his relations with toon fans soured recently and bottom line he wasnt man enough to try and tackle it he ran away and owen cud do the same.
henry may well stay at arsenal but why do the media take it upon themselves to f***ing say hes going elsewhere every transfer window! hes signed for 4 years last year so let him get on with it- yes he likes the look of barca and liverpool but hes an arsenal player and arsenal wud have to agree a fee first and cant see them doing that.
but looks like the transfer scramble could carry on and the media circus around it that bores the life out of me. newcastle signing david rozenhal- havent seen much of him but his details are decent most notably onfootball manger which must be my source of whether they are good or not!
He's solid on FM, if a bit unspectacular. Worryingly for Newcastle fans who are glad to see the back of Boumsong and Bramble, his concentration and decisions stats are only around 10-12 out of 20.
But that's above 2, so it's an improvement.
yep not someone i would really buy on FM but decent enough- hopefully he is a good player but the concentration thing will be interesting i hope its not another bramble in disguise we just got rid of that tw*t
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