Tevez: Unsatisfactory ending to unsavoury affair

I know things could have been a lot worse. I know that our Icelandic owner would not be able to sell the club - something he desperately needs to do - if it hadn't been settled. And i know that the money is being paid in stages - BUT - i'm not happy with the ending of the 'Carlos Tevez Affair'.

£10million, £15million, £20 million... whatever. It's the fact that i think given better circumstances West Ham should and could have gone all the way with this - instead they've been forced to pay Sheffield United's loveable chairman Kevin McCabe - who is certain to invest EVERY penny in new players.

The problem with the deal is it leaves a nasty stain on West Ham's character. A stain which i'm not sure should really be there.

The judgement - leaked by Sheffield United and therefore no use in any future cases as a precedent - was a complete load of gibberish written by a man who clarly has little or no knowledge of football.

He actually worked out how many points West Ham would have won if they had not played Tevez!!! How the hell did he do that?

How can you say what would've happended had someone else been playing for the club in those last few weeks - granted it is probably fair to say any replacement would not have had Tevez' skill - but how can you say they would have scored fewer or more goals???? You can't.

You can't change history and in the same way you can't look at history and say how it would've been different if you'd taken someone out of it.

Not with any degree of certainty anyway.

So West Ham should have fought to overturn the ridiculous ruling - but they couldn't - they needed it settled.

Mr McCabe says: "We are happy and satisfied with the settlement with West Ham.
"Throughout the finalisation of the terms for the agreement, the discussions were friendly, co-operative and in the best of spirit with both the Blades and Hammers advisory teams.
"We are two clubs with a fantastic footballing history who now want to move on and focus on the business of playing football - hopefully for us against the Hammers in the Premier League next season."

Well Mr McCabe - if you take ALL the money and invest it in the team then i'm sure you'll get up no problem - so let's just wait and see what happens eh.....