The thing about Carlos

From before...

Back in January, I wrote "In March, April, May, we'll have the 'can West Ham stay up?' sweepstakes." Stay up we did, thanks to Senor Tevez, and a great parade-raining win at Old Trafford for the last game of the season. A fantastic end to the capaign, winning seven of the last nine games. If we'd played like that all season, maybe it would have been our parade at OT. Still, some people forget thata football is won on the field.

"Ineligible player" they shrieked, until they got their points for safety. So now we have the ridiculous situation whhereby no-one's sure who's playing, or rather not playing in the Premier League next season. WHo would you think deservers it more, a team with twenty points out of their last twenty six, or a team who, on the last day of the season, against relegation rivals, couldn't get the single solitary point needed for safety, and gave away a needless penaltyy for handball.

"But Carlos was ineleigible" they wail. Er no, sorry, he wasn't. Eligibility in football relates to one thing and one thing only: registration. The only offence that warrants a points deduction is when a player's registration is not transferred with complete and correct details from one club to another. This is a one-page form, detailing name, date of birth, nationality, ID details, previous club, previous FA, new club, new FA and signature of the player.

With Carlos and Javier, the registration transfer was fine. No case to answer on eligibility or lack thereof.

Where we did fall down, without doubt, is on third party involvement and transparency. Bang to rights on both of them. Deserving of a points deduction? Absolutely not.

What many people have forgotten about third party ownership is that the rules in place were brough in to prevent situations where a player, or squad, or manager might be pressurised to throw the game in some way, because of a financial tie to another club. This was brought in after Derby County met Oxford United, both owned by Robert Maxwell, the known paragon of financial probity, met each other in the FA Cup.

Did Kia Joorachbian have financial ties to any other English club? Not as far as we know. Did Carlos play his heart out for West Ham every game? You betcha! Try and throw a game? You're kidding. Financial penalty? We'll certainlly get that if Carlos leaves, or if he stays. Joorachbian's company, Media Sports Investments (MSI) owns Carlos' economic rights: transfer money, image and endorsement fees. If we want that, we have to pay for it (although we at last can, have got rid of Terrence Brown et al). We should pay what it takes.

Did we behave with a lack of good faith? On balance, yes I think we did, although most if not all (Mr Magnussen, please take note), have since left the club structure.

Fuss about nothing? Get a grip, Blades - look at the dignity with which Watford and Charlton accepted their relegation.