How the hell can Wolves get away with a SUSPENDED £25,000 fine for fielding a reserve team at Manchester United? If it was against the rules, and they have been found guilty, then how can such a pathetic fine be imposed? We were fined £6m for allowing a third party to have the theoretical right to instruct us not to play one player (a right that was never exercised), whilst Wolves sought to gain an advantage by RESTING 10 players from a game, effectively throwing a result, in order to carry an advantage into the next match.
Manchester United may win the Premiership by a margin of 3 points or less. How will we ever know whether or not a full strength Wolves team might have secured a result that evening? Because of McCarthy's decision to breach the rules of the competition, the whole competition may have been distorted. Perhaps Chelsea should instruct lawyers now, just in case. Who knows, Wolves might have somebody as stupid as Duxbury on their Board, willing to settle out of court to the tune of £25m!
Wolves won the game on the following Saturday 2-0 against Burnley. At the very least, these 3 points should be docked because McCarthy has admitted that he picked the understrength team against Manchester United in order to increase the team's chances of beating Burnley. He sought an unfair advantage, in breach of the competition's rules, so the points gained as a result should now be deducted.
If I were Sullivan, I would be contacting the owners of Burnley, Portsmouth, Wigan, Sunderland, Bolton and Hull immediately with a view to launching a joint legal action. Wolves cheated and beat Burnley as a result. Those 3 points might save them and send a relegation rival down. How on earth is a suspended fine of £25,000 equitable? Once again the authorities have been shown to be asses!
31 comments:
I think the rule is pathetic personally. If Wolves chose to field 11 English youngsters and got punished what is that saying about our league? If all the players were on their payrole then why on earth can they not play them? I thought it was a clever move, and this is just further indicating the increasing lack of power the managers are getting. By these rules how on earth are English youngsters meant to be given a risky chance and more importantly the experience. I would be more then happy for Zola to do the same thing against Man Utd, although we would clearly get punished more, sure people would say we are having a losing attitude but who gives a f***?
A very good point well made!
The point is that the rules were breached - all argument ends there! Now if they want to change the rules, that's another matter, although imagine how you would feel if, last game of the season, 11 kids were picked against one of our relegation rivals and, as a result, we went down. For the integrity of the competition, teams have to pick their strongest possible team. I still believe Shafting United should have sued Liverpool for fielding an understrength team at Fulham in the Great Escape year.
So tell me if a top player is not playing at the best of his ability and is replaced by a youngster is that breaking the rules? of course it is. The rules being brought in about having a certain amount of English youngsters in the squad is completely contradicting this predicament. Arsenal being exempt from this rule aside, I would be aggrieved is a team did this and West Ham got relegated, but as a manager I think you should have so much more freedom then is possible at the moment. I am very much pointing the finger at the rules. It also goes back to the argument of, well you get relegated you should have played better.
But that principle is breached here surely? Burnley may have played adequately and got a result, had they played a Wolves team that had played in midweek. Instead, Wolves secured an unfair advantage by resting players.
And what about the rights of the fans? People buying tickets bought them for a game between Manchester United and Wolves, not Manchester United and Wolves Reserves. The fans were cheated as well as Wolves' rivals and, potentially, Chelsea.
As soon as guilt was proved, the penalty should have been draconian to act as a deterrent.
It's Sheff Utd all over again LOL
Exactly! If we go down and Wolves stay up, we have as strong a claim against Wolves as Sheffield United had against us surely? I am sure Lord Justice Frigpig can find that 10 fully fit first team players were material in achieving a result against Burnley!
Come on Sullivan, get the lawyers working on it!
Just had a kit kat easter egg. Yum yum bubble gum
The fans deserved to be told. If the rule was erased and everybody could do what Arsenal, Chelsea etc already do then surely there would be no complaints. A stupid rule in my opinion, glad McCarthy broke it. Had Burnley beaten Wolves I gaurantee they would not have been fined.
Remind me, what is the 'headline' to your blog?
To the poster above, what exactly do you get out of leaving racist and obscene comments? You really are an increibly pathetic individual!
I didnt think asking you what the title of your blog stated was either racist, or offensive! But, who knows what goes on in your little north london mind!
Everyone is a racist in this world just some people dont admit it. All races hate another race so that makes us all racist
The problem is that big clubs do this kind of thing all the time yet go unpunished.
The two rules broken were:
B13
In all matters and transactions relating to the League each Club shall behave towards each
other Club and the League with the utmost good faith.
E20
In every League Match each participating Club shall field a full strength team.
Now which big team has not broken these rules? Crazy.
Personally, i would call an incredibly (not increibly) pathetic individual someone who parades as a West Ham United 'fan', but in reality is a spiteful negative mug, who every true West Ham supporter derides their pathetic attempt to 'wind them up'! You should try and find your true calling and get a job with the Mirror you mug!
I agree teams should be allowed to field who they want.
Well done. sensible well written piece that we can all agee with. Unbelievable. Every team now has carte blanche to field weakened teams whenever it suits them. More posts like these less slating of ex and current hammers please!!
2153, presumably you did not leave any of the deleted comments, all of which were horribly racist. Apologies you thought my comment was directed at you.
So presumably 2247, you are the "mug" leaving the racist comments? Over 255,000 hits on this site now, a regular core object. Lots don't and people like yourself keep returning!
2156, speak for yourself. Look in the mirror to see the racist. BNP member by any chance?
Stani, there's a big difference between rotation and fielding a reserve team. Liverpool overstepped the mark with their team at Fulham in the Great Escape year and should have been charged and held accountable for Sheffield United's relegation. Man Utd came close with the team they fielded against ourselves last game of that season. Pardew also pushed the boundaries with the team he selected for the league game against Pompey ahead of the Man City game. The abuses stand out!
But that's the thing HF, one can easily fit rotation under rule E20 because of the rule's ambiguity. Inversely, one can easily wriggle out of it by altering their understanding of what "full strength" means e.g. Rooney would be part of a full strength Man utd team but would a tired Rooney be? Would that team constitute full strength?
Previous comments have suggested getting rid of the rule yet we still must have something in it's place to preserve the integrity of the competition (literal). I also am sympathetic to the view that the manager should be left to manage and pick his team in accordance with his situation.
In essence, what the PL are doing with rule E20 is thinking of a single game of competitive football. In this case, it is right to pick a full strength team or you'd be throwing the game, in effect, if you didn't. The problem is that the reality is different. The PL competition is not just one game but a whole season so a manager has to take this into account and look further than his present game whilst considering his resources. It's a difficult one.
2139 To the poster above, what exactly do you get out of leaving racist and obscene comments? You really are an increibly pathetic individual! Same could be said of the producer of this blog surely?
I love the BNP what wrong with that???? We have more supporters in dagenham than you hve hits on this awful website. Vote BNP
Look as a Indian if you marry out of the faith you are kicked out of your family or even killed in an honour killing thats racist. Muslims try to blow anybody up that doesnt believe in their religion. It happens in all religions and again I will say we are all racist to a degree no matter how much you deny it. Im just honest you are just a twat and a liar hammersfan
And the two anonymous posters above show why Scott Parker was voted Hammer of the Year last year despite completing less than half the games played and scoring only one goal from midfield!
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