West Ham today insisted they will stand by under-fire chief executive Scott Duxbury and maintained that his position is not under review.

Duxbury was the club's legal representative at the time of the Carlos Tevez affair and was accused of witholding information by the first Premier League inquiry into the affair in April 2007, when West Ham were fined £5.5million.

Now the Football Association's independent tribunal have found that Duxbury verbally assured Kia Joorabchian, the part-owner of Tevez, that the third-party agreement still existed even though he had informed the Premier League that it had been terminated so that the Argentine striker could play in West Ham's remaining games.

The tribunal's findings, reported in today's Daily Mail, state that: "We have no doubt that those [Tevez's] services were worth at least three points to West Ham over the season and were what made the difference between West Ham remaining in the Premier League and being relegated.

"Moreover, if the Premier League had known what Mr Duxbury for West Ham was saying to Mr Joorabchian's solicitor [Graham Shear] following the commission decision, we are confident the Premier League would have suspended Mr Tevez's registration as a West Ham player."

The tribunal found in favour of relegated Sheffield United and could order West Ham to pay the club £30m but a spokesman said today: "We are still digesting the findings of the tribunal but the position of Scott Duxbury is not under review."

West Ham will decide before the end of the week whether to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

They also look certain to call for a "forensic" examination of Sheffield United's books following the club's intention to claim more than £30m as compensation for lost revenue after they were relegated.