Carlos Tevez scores a goal for West Ham in the 2006/07 Premier League season (AP)
17 years after that unforgettable campaign of West Ham in the Premier Leaguein which he managed to avoid relegation thanks to a goal that Carlos Tevez converted him to Manchester Uniteddetails were revealed about a historic controversy involving the Argentine footballer with his transfer to the London club, where he arrived with Javier Mascherano in 2006.
Kevin McCabeformer president of the Sheffield Unitedgave new information about the famous “Tevez case”which shook up the English league in the 2006-2007 season. According to the British newspaper The Sunthe manager recalled how the goal of the Apache in the last game of the season in Old Trafford saved the Hammers from relegation at the expense of his team, something he still considers a “absolute scandal”.
The controversial part of the case is that, prior to the famous goal by the former Boca Juniors striker, West Ham had been found guilty of breaking transfer rules when signing Tevez already Mascherano in August 2006. The cards of both players, who came from Corinthians, were partially owned by the agent’s company. Kia Joorabchian, Media Sports Investmentwhich went against Premier League regulations prohibiting third party ownership of players.
Despite this violation, instead of the deduction of points that many clubs demanded, the Premier League decided to impose West Ham fined £5.5mwhich ended up benefiting the club over other clubs fighting to stay up. This outcome has been strongly criticised by McCabe and other leaders who were fighting to avoid relegation and felt that the financial penalty was not enough of a punishment.
Carlos Tevez is honoured at West Ham in 2022 (Reuters/Andrew Boyers)
McCabe said in statements to The Sun that, from the beginning, it was known that Tevez’s team was not going to be punished as it should have been. “We recognized that they were never going to deduct points from him. Everyone knew West Ham had cheated and they had admitted it”he admitted. The Premier League, according to the former Sheffield director, decided to take the risk of the Hammers relegated due to their own performance, given that they were seven points from safety with only a few games left to play: “They made the decision to fine them, trusting that they would be relegated anyway”.
A court subsequently awarded Sheffield United compensation of 20 million poundsbut the damage had already been done. McCabe claimed the affair ultimately forced him to leave the club he loves after a bitter battle with co-owner Prince Abdullah in 2019.
How Tevez and Mascherano’s controversial transfer to West Ham went
In 2007, one of the most controversial events of the Premier League began to crumble with the transfer of the Javier Mascherano al Liverpool. This transfer revealed that a high percentage of the “economic rights” of both the Little boss as of his compatriot Carlos Tevezbelonged to the agent Kia Joorabchian and his company MSI, which was an explicit violation of Premier League rules, journalist Martin Lipton reported.
The situation began five months earlier, when West Ham introduced to Mascherano y Tevez in a double deal on the final day of the summer transfer window. In March of the same year, the London club were formally accused of breaching league rules, triggering an exhaustive investigation.
Despite Alan Curbishley replacing Alan Pardew as manager, the team was on the brink of relegation. However, when the club admitted to cheating the Premier League and pleaded guilty to concealing important documentsthe situation became even more complicated. The League Commission, instead of deducting points from the team, imposed a record fine of 5.5 million pounds, arguing that a deduction of points would have condemned the team to relegation.
Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano joined West Ham in 2006 (AP)
Incredibly, West Ham managed to win seven of their last nine games, including a crucial victory in the Old Trafford secured by a goal from Tevez on the last day of the season, which condemned the Sheffield United al Championshiptogether with Charlton y Watford.
Meanwhile, league officials decided not to appeal the Commission’s verdict, a decision that was unsuccessfully challenged by the Sheffield Unitedwho subsequently announced his intention to sue the West Ham seeking compensation. Two years later, in April 2009, the Hammers agreed to pay compensation of £20m. During this period, Tevez had been servicing a two-year loan in the Manchester Unitedwhere he won two consecutive Premier League titles, the Champions League and the League Cupbefore transferring to the Manchester City in a controversial move.
