jr
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Registered: 20th May 02
Location: Kent
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Sheffield United stand accused of third-party interefence yet again after details of Matthew Spring's transfer from Luton Town to Charlton Athletic were exposed.
Spring, a Luton player loaned to Sheffield United back in August for the duration of the season was allowed to prematurely end his loan arrangement in order to sign a permanent deal with Championship strugglers Charlton on 9th January.
However Spring was absent from Charlton's 2-1 FA Cup fourth round defeat at Bramall Lane on Saturday due to an agreement between the clubs involved that, at Sheffield United's behest - and presumably as a condition of agreement - insisted that Spring would not play against them in the fixture.
Martin Samuels, writing for the Mail Online today slammed the Blades - previously accused of third party influence regarding the transfer of Steve Kabba - for yet again infringing the very rule that West Ham were penalised for breaking in regards to the signing of Carlos Tevez, and which led to a few hundred supporters of the Yorkshire club to march on London under the banner of 'Fairness in Football'.
"Chances are that Sheffield United will get away with it again," wrote Samuels. "Despite all that has happened these last two seasons, the rules seem either vague, easily circumvented or non-existent.
"Many pontificate, but few seem moved to act. We have, however, cornered the market in hypocrisy. For clearly, it is unthinkable that a man as publicly committed to fair play as Kevin McCabe, chairman of Sheffield United, would not have checked the regulations first and ensured that everything about Spring's transfer was above board and not at all wonky or open to abuse."
Charlton have reacted to the storm by making a statement on the club's website this afternoon; it read:
"Daily Mail journalist Martin Samuel, writing in his column, claimed the Blades had no right to come to a 'gentleman's agreement' with the Addicks that the midfielder - who signed for Charlton from Luton Town - should not play in the match because he wasn't officially a United player.
"But in fact the deal was stipulated in the initial negotiations regarding the premature ending of Spring's season-long loan at Bramall Lane from the Hatters. Although not a permanent signing, Spring was registered to the Blades.
"The Addicks agreed that if United released Spring from his loan commitments, thereby allowing the transfer of the Luton player to The Valley to go through, manager Phil Parkinson would not field the player in any potential FA Cup fourth-round tie between the two clubs."
As of yet neither Sheffield United - nor their unusually silent Chairman Mr McCabe - have responded to Samuels' article.
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I thought about posting this earlier.