West Ham Fans Born to be Claret and Blue

When Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano arrived at West Ham on the last day of the August transfer window the football world was astounded, how could £50 million worth of talent suddenly be at the disposal of the then manager Alan Pardew? The deal that brought the two Argentine Internationals to the Boleyn was arranged as a sweetener for the impending take over of the club by the 'owner' of the players registrations, Kia Joorabchian. It was assumed that, as they arrived together, the players were both on a similar deal, however we have learned that Carlos Tevez's contract allowed him to play an unlimited amount of games for the Hammers without triggering any additional payment clauses, the contract for Mascherano was entirely different, as he was perceived to be the player out of the two who really was 'world class', the trigger clauses in his contract meant that if he played more than a handfull of games, West Ham would have to stump up the best part of £25 Million to retain his services. Of course there has been a lot of water under the bridge sine those heady days of the summer, Joorabchian failed in his attempt to but the club and Eggert Magnusson did instead, Alan Pardew was sacked and the rest is history. Imagine how 'Masher' and Carlitos must have felt? Up somewhere bad without a paddle, imagine how much worse Masher must have felt when he realised the terms of the contract that brought him to the club? This situation is a great example of the ridiculous notion of a players registration NOT being owned by a club, the awful thing is that players values soar and fall at the drop of a hat and a once and future football icon has been deprived of showing what are probably the most perceptive bunch of footballing fans around the joy of seeing him ply his trade. As with all ludicrous legal contracts, a third party will be the beneficiary of all the legalese, a bit like the poor soul who has his car taken by the bailiffs for an unpaid parking ticket that has run and run leaving him to fork out five times the value of his car just to get it back. - Ed