Blades Denied Right to Appeal

Sheffield United's campaign for West Ham to be deducted points over the Carlos Tevez affair finally trundled to a halt today with the high court's decision to cut off the club's final avenue of attack. In a private hearing, the Blades were refused the right to appeal against an arbitration panel's decision to dismiss their claim for new disciplinary action to be taken against West Ham.

The ruling means that the £5.5m fine originally handed out to West Ham will remain the only punishment imposed on the club for including banned clauses in the contracts of Tevez and Javier Masceharno - and then deliberately concealing them from the Premier League authorities. It does not, however, prevent Sheffield United from seeking financial compensation, something the club has previously suggested it would do, with a figure of £50m being mentioned.

"Sheffield United have not been granted leave to appeal aspects of the arbitration panel's decision earlier this month," said the club's solicitor Paul Stothard outside the court. "This application was made on very limited grounds and it has also been denied on very limited grounds.

"Sheffield United are not precluded from taking further action whether against the Premier League or West Ham. We will consider our position with our professional advisors and make further statements in due course."

United were relegated to the Championship after finishing three points behind the Hammers and have long argued that the independent commission that inflicted the £5.5m fine but declined to deduct points had used a flawed process. Though a subsequent arbitration panel said it would indeed have imposed a points penalty, it considered the process to have been sound and therefore did not recommend revising the punishment. United sought permission to appeal against that finding, but that was today denied.

Tevez is now on the cusp of a transfer from West Ham to Manchester United, though confusion surrounds the move as it remains uncertain as to who owns the player's registration rights. The striker's agent, Kia Joorabchian, claims it was agreed with West Ham that he would only stay at Upton Park for one season, but both West Ham and the Premier League have said he is contracted to the club until 2010.