A good sign

The Premier League has agreed to the request by Sheffield United to establish an arbitration panel to review the ruling in the Carlos Tévez-Javier Mascherano case, but the league is also working on a fixture list that doesn't include the Blades, the Independent reported:

Sheffield United will pursue their claim that an independent commission should have deducted points from West Ham and that the League should have cancelled Tevez's registration. It is more likely, however, that should they persuade the arbitration panel of their case, they would be awarded a compensation payment rather than having the commission's decision overturned.

We can only hope that that is the extent of the damage, at worst. I find encouragement from the league's interpretation of the remit of the arbitration panel: It is to review the processes that the league used in establishing the original independent commission that levied the £5.5 million fine against West Ham, not the decision in the case itself. As always, I'll remind that I'm not a lawyer, but that sounds like good news for the Hammers.