Flaws in Blades' £50m claim, says legal expert
Sheffield United are on a hiding to nothing if they don't abandon a £50 million compensation fight against West Ham, a legal expert warned today.
The Blades are suing the Hammers over the Carlos Tevez affair claiming new evidence concerning West Ham's third-party ownership agreements with Tevez's representatives shows they were unfairly relegated from the Premier League last season.
Disappointed Sheffield United players after their final day defeat against Wigan
But sports litigation specialist Peter Coyle doubts if arbitrators will view this development as a strong enough reason for such a huge compensation pay-out.
Coyle said: "Proving West Ham breached their duty of good faith is easy enough because they have admitted to breaking the rules, but to prove that has been the main cause of their United's relegation is incredibly difficult to do.
"Sheffield United didn't beat Wigan on the last game of the season.
"That to me is a bigger reason for their relegation than Tevez, West Ham or anything else."
The Hammers have vowed to fight the case saying United's claim lacked "legal merit".
