Off the hook - West Ham won't be docked points over Tevez affair - Sport

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Carlos Tevez has been the hero of the club's belated relegation escape bid but has also been the subject of a Premier League investigation into his controversial signing.

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Settled: Carlos Tevez has adjusted to life with his West Ham team-mates

The expected punishment is sure to cause outrage at other clubs, who would regard it as too lenient.

Paul Jewell, boss of the relegation-threatened Wigan side who meet the Hammers on Saturday, said: "Whoever is doing the inquiry will be desperate for us to beat West Ham. It should have been dealt with a long time ago to give everyone a fair crack of the whip.

"That would have given West Ham an opportunity to deal with it, if they had lost points. Now it's come to the stage of the season where it seems crazy to have to make a decision."

The commission members who met West Ham's defence team in London on Thursday are likely to consider a points deduction too harsh.

The charge concerned a breach of Premier League rules U.18 and B.13 and related to the registration of Argentina internationals Tevez and Javier Mascherano last August.

The Premier League does not allow players who are owned by a third party to represent one of their member clubs.

Mascherano and Tevez were owned by Media Sports Investment when they signed from Brazilian club Corinthians and West Ham's failure to provide the Premier League with all the documentation angered them greatly.

The commission — chairman Simon Bourne-Arton QC, Lord Herman Ouseley and David Dent — met West Ham officials for almost three hours on Thursday.

Eggert Magnusson, the club's Icelandic chairman who was not in charge when Tevez and Mascherano signed, was joined by deputy chief executive Scott Duxbury and Jim Sturman QC, who has also represented Jose Mourinho.

The defence was expected to stress the fact that the previous administration, in particular former chief executive Paul Aldridge, were responsible for recruiting the two players, while also trying to suggest the Premier League did not fully understand their own rules at the time.