It's only money

The verdict from an indpendent panel named by the FA is in: West Ham are fined £5.5 million (about $11 million) for the improper transfers of Carlos Tévez and Javier Mascherano, but the club won't suffer a points deduction that could have amounted to a relegation sentence. West Ham admitted the club was guilty of deceiving the FA about the third party that retained partial control over the two Argentinians, but its cooperation and the change in ownership and executive management seems to have brought mercy on the Irons.

The initial reports that I read about this Friday afternoon said that West Ham would have to sign Tévez to a new deal that eliminated the third-party partial ownership of his rights. The Times reported that Tévez was cleared to play for the remaining three games of the Premiership season. Predictably, one columnist already has taken the angle that it's not fair to other teams near the bottom of the table if Tévez helps West Ham to stay up. The writer, David Bond of the Telegraph, contends that the club's deceiving of the FA is what especially makes it unfair that they may avoid the ultimate penalty.

This situation seems unprecedented to me. The fine is more than triple the largest fine ever handed out by the FA. The charges seem as serious as can be leveled. Situations like this don't come up much in American sports. Even baseball, which has a very international player pool, has clear-cut rules for players signing with clubs, often years before they are ready to play in the major leagues. Only baseball players from Japan go through a situation that compares to the football transfer market, and the number of players moving from Japan to Major League Baseball is far fewer than the myriad players shifting from one league to another in football.

Obviously, I'm relieved that there was no points deduction. West Ham is still alive for its huge six-pointer at Wigan on Saturday. TMG and I are going to watch it at the Globe.