Tevez saga still casts a shadow over our game

David Mellor
18 Mar 2009

Do the Football Association and the Premier League think it's all over, now that West Ham have settled with Sheffield United over the Carlos Tevez affair? If they do, they're nuts. This one will run and run - and so it should.

Both regulatory bodies dragged the reputation of football through the mud by doing too little too late as it became increasingly obvious to all but the wilfully blind that Tevez's contractual arrangements with West Ham and his "manager" Kia Joorabchian were in clear breach of all the rules. As a result, Sheffield United were relegated and, to their credit, refused to take it lying down. Hence Monday's settlement.

But even here the FA and the Premier League were as far behind the play as one of their more useless referees because they didn't even arrange for a proper announcement to be made, spelling out exactly what the settlement terms are. We have a right to know because all this has implications for the integrity of the game.

So, is it £15million, £20m, or £25m? And how and over what period, will it be paid?

But that's only the beginning.

Already former Sheffield United manager Neil Warnock, who lost his job three days after the Blades went down, and up to 20 former and current Sheffield United players, who lost payments they would have received had the club stayed up, are contemplating legal action. And even if Warnock is trying it on, the players might well have a claim.

And, of course, the Tevez case still remains unresolved.

Here he still is, playing on loan with Manchester United, with an arrangement the club seem none too keen to proceed with, to buy him for £32m. Which again begs an awful lot of questions.

Who is he actually on loan from - West Ham or Joorabchian? And who will get the money if United pay up? Presumably Joorabchian, but is that right and proper? Should an individual own a player? I mean, who is Tevez accountable to, Sir Alex Ferguson or Joorabchian? I think we should be told.

But we won't because I suspect neither the FA nor the Premier League actually know.

They will reply, they have got a committee of inquiry going on.

But is that a serious attempt to sort things out or just a time-honoured way of kicking the ball into the long grass? These committees, in a famous phrase, take minutes and waste years.

I bet no one at Soho Square has any enthusiasm to do anything with the report, when it finally comes, other than sweep it under the carpet.

But they shouldn't be allowed to. Tevez, decent bloke and fine player though he is, shouldn't be where he is, in limbo between a club who don't really want him and a shadowy management group who want loadsamoney for him.

I feel sorry for him but the Premier League should tell Manchester United that if this issue is not resolved by the end of the season, Tevez (left) will be forced out altogether. And rules should be published to make absolutely clear that third-party rights, like Joorabchian's gang seem to have over Tevez, will not be tolerated in the future. The integrity of the game demands it.

But are either the FA or the Premier League fit for purpose as protectors of football's integrity?

The Tevez affair continues to suggest not.

Wiley deserves plaudits but Attwell should still see red

The Premier League title is still Manchester United's to lose but Liverpool did everyone a favour in giving Fergie's men such a thumping last Saturday.

This fast, free-flowing game was a credit to the League and to referee Alan Wiley.

Since I so often criticise whistlers, and I am about to do so again, let it be said the low-profile Wiley, who is likely to be around for only one more season, showed great judgement in both penalty calls, the kind of courage most referees leave in the dressing room at Old Trafford, by giving Nemanja Vidic a straight red for bringing down Steven Gerrard.

If every referee performed as he did, I for one would have no complaints. But, of course, they don't, which brings me to Stuart Attwell. Accident-prone Attwell, 26, was strutting his stuff at Stevenage on Saturday, as part of his intended rehabilitation away from the limelight.

But the fans were on his back throughout because all the negative publicity about him predisposed them to think he's a berk. An impression his afternoon's activities apparently did little to dispel.

Attwell must take responsibility for his own mistakes but the people who should be getting stick are the Football Association for promoting him so fast.

Putting such an inadequate performer on the FIFA list was stupid and a provocation to the fans, who will now never give him a fair shake. He might as well quit because he's already finished.

Pardew must not be banned

I am not a big fan of Alan Pardew and I also think his “rape” remark on Sunday's Match of the Day 2 was clumsy and maladroit. Exactly what you'd expect from a semi-articulate fellow like him pushed into punditry.

But did it merit the howls of anguish from the PC brigade, the grovelling apology the BBC forced him to make and the muttering from insiders that he won't be used again?

I don't think so. Giving the commissars of political correctness another head to wave on a pole does nothing for free speech, now under threat in this country as never before.

Swim sirens worthy of praise

Amazing that two British swimmers, Jo Jackson and Rebecca Adlington, both broke the world record in a 400metres freestyle race in Sheffield on Monday night. A few years ago, when British swimming was in the doldrums, such a result was unthinkable.

Now, post-Beijing, we sort of take it for granted.

The news of their triumph made waves but not big ones.

But their achievement should be saluted far more than some of the tuppenny-ha'penny football stuff that continues to make the biggest headlines.

Jose probe is pointless

Apparently, the police are investigating allegations that Jose Mourinho struck a mouthy Manchester United fan after last Wednesday's match. Why? The fan apparently suffered no harm; and in all probability was just looking for trouble.

The police normally refuse to take up allegations of common assault where no injury is caused, so why make an exception in this case? For no better reason, I suspect, than that Jose's a celebrity.
One tries to think well of the police but they don't make it easy, do they?