I was shocked to read that West Ham United still owe Sheffield United £10 million as part of the Carlos Tevez saga.
Tevez scored six goals during the 2006-07 season, including a decisive winner against Manchester United on the final day of the season which effectively condemned Sheffield United to relegation in place of the Hammers.
West Ham settled an out-of-court compensation package, understood to be in the region of £24million, with the Yorkshire club over fielding Tevez ineligibly, something Sheffield successfully argued cost them their Premier League status in 2007.
West Ham have been paying the fee to the Bramall Lane club in instalments and owe another £10m in two payments over the next 12 months.
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan said in his programme notes ahead of Saturday’s win over Aston Villa that the financial burden is having a massive impact on Sam Allardyce’s transfer kitty. He wrote:
‘We’ve done some good business and brought in some real quality despite our still-limited resources.
‘We have an eight-figure sum still outstanding over the Tevez affair, even though we have been paying it down over the past two years.
‘That amount has to be paid off over the next 12 months, which does take its toll on our transfer activity.’
