Tottenham Hotspur have made a request to the Premier League for
their game against West Ham United to be replayed.
Here is a copy of the letter that Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has
sent to the Premier League.
---
Mr Dave Richards
Chairman
The FA Premier League,
30 Gloucester Place
London
W1U 8PL
9 May 2006
Dear Dave
Re: Protest and request for the match between West Ham United and
Tottenham Hotspur FC on 7/5/06 to be replayed
As you are aware, Sunday could have been a momentous day for our
Club and our fans. It was the first time since the inception of the
UEFA Champions League that we were in a position to qualify for
European club footballs most prestigious competition. After such a
successful League campaign, the excitement and expectation of our
fans was simply enormous. Our match at West Ham was effectively a
Cup Final.
However, we believe that our chances of success were significantly
reduced by the exceptional circumstances brought about by the
sudden illness of the majority of players in our First Team squad
in the early hours of Sunday morning. In being given no viable
option to postpone the match other than a 2-hour delay to kick-off,
our players were denied the possible opportunity of competing in
the Champions League, while our fans have been left with a sense of
suspicion and injustice at the way subsequent events
unfolded.
We contacted the FAPL early on Sunday morning and, after a series
of conversations, the FAPL called for the England Team Doctor and
the FAPL Company Secretary to attend our Team Hotel to assess the
situation. We believed that the FAPL were examining the situation
in good faith and were seeking to obtain all relevant information
before coming to a decision. Indeed, in those early conversations
the FAPLs Chief Executive had given us every reason to believe the
match could be postponed to allow our players some extra time to
recover from a lack of sleep, vomiting, diarrhoea and
dehydration.
At this time, myself, Board members and other key decision makers
joined the players at their hotel. Whilst waiting for the opinion
of the England Team Doctor, who was yet to arrive at our Team
Hotel, I was contacted from a distance by the FAPL and told that we
had to play the game that day or suffer the consequences. This, by
implication, may have meant a significant loss of points and the
denial of participation in any European competition a situation I
could not sanction. This threat was made by the FAPL despite the
fact that West Ham United, acting honourably and fairly as would be
expected from that club, had consented to the postponement of the
match provided that any re-match did not interfere with their FA
Cup Final preparations.
The FAPLs Chief Executive then said he would consider the match
being delayed to later on Sunday evening, but unfortunately the
Police would not sanction a kick off time beyond 5pm. Our medical
staff advised that a delay of at least 3 hours would be necessary
to have any impact on the players and therefore it was Martin Jols
view that, in the absence of a postponement or a much later
kick-off, we had no choice whatsoever but to proceed to play at
3pm. What puzzles us is why the FAPL were prepared to sanction a 4
hour delay but not a 24 hour delay. If the integrity of all matches
kicking off at the same time was your primary concern, why sanction
a delay of any kind?
Our next issue was team selection. Martin Jol and his staff, having
originally selected their squad of 17 players for the match, were
then left in the invidious position of choosing between starting
the match with their original 17 players, 10 of whom were feeling
very unwell, or drafting in Reserve Team players, the majority of
whom have not played for the First Team this season or are untried
and untested at First Team level. In any case, having ended their
season, our Reserve Team players were scattered across various
parts of London and the South East, would not have been prepared to
play in a Premier League (or any other) match at such short notice
and would rarely, if ever, have played together.
This was an impossible position for our coaching staff to find
themselves in on the morning of what was our most important match
for many years. Playing a make-shift, inexperienced and
ill-prepared team in such a high profile game could have turned the
match into a farce, resulting in an embarrassment for the players,
the coaches, the Club, our fans and the Premier League competition
as a whole.
To add insult to injury, the FAPLs announcement that our game
would not be postponed was made live on Sky TV from the pitch side
at Highbury. In light of the obvious sensitivities and the
competition for 4th place between Arsenal and Spurs this was, to
say the least, an unfortunate choice.
We simply do not understand why the FAPL failed to appraise itself
of all of the facts before turning down our request that the
fixture be postponed under rule E 13.4. We were surprised that the
FAPLs Chief Executive did not make the short journey from Highbury
to the Team Hotel at Canary Wharf to assess such a serious issue
first hand. We also fail to understand why the England Team Doctor,
having been sent to the Team Hotel, was not even consulted before
an announcement was made (in fact, he did not even arrive at our
hotel before the decision was made or even before our players had
to leave the Team Hotel to travel to Upton Park for the match). As
a result we played the game with players who were unwell but who
were desperate not to let their fans and colleagues down. Clearly,
our governing body put us in an impossible situation and gave a
significant advantage to Arsenal in competing for that 4th
position.
With this in mind we contacted those Premier League Chairmen and
Chief Executives we were able to locate to establish what fellow
members feel is an appropriate way forward given the unorthodox
decision made by the FAPL prior to receiving objective information
on the situation. We now have confirmation from a majority of
Premier League clubs that they would support a replay and in
similar circumstances would expect the game to have been postponed.
This is a gesture made by fellow clubs which supports the Charters
aims of running a professional league in a manner in which all of
its member Clubs are treated equally and in a professional, fair
and objective way. Additionally, from comments made by Sepp Blatter
in the media in the past 24 hours, even FIFA would support the idea
of a postponement provided the match was played on or before 15 May
2006.
We therefore formally request that you order that the game be
replayed.
It is regrettable that we have been put in this position, but we
feel let down by the FAPLs abdication of its responsibility to
consider the request for a postponement fairly and after due
consideration of all relevant factors. Where such significant
commercial and competitive interests are jeopardised it is only
reasonable that our governing body ensures we play on a level
playing field and supports us by making decisions based on the
facts of the situation which has to include all relevant
information. We feel sure that the FAPL, along with most reasonable
minded people, would not have wanted such a controversial outcome
to the final day of the Premier League season. Furthermore, the
FAPL was inconsistent in its approach in being prepared to consider
the kick-off to be delayed but not allowing the match to be played
on a different day.
Finally, whilst our primary concern here is for our own Club, the
situation we find ourselves in highlights what could have been an
even bigger issue for a Club facing relegation from the FAPL.
Similarly, it is hard to believe that, faced with an identical
issue on the morning of a Champions League Final, a club would not
seek a postponement (with the opposing team consenting) and that,
given the importance of such an occasion, such a request would not
be granted by UEFA in the interests of fairness and good sporting
practice. In our view, and regardless of the outcome of our case,
the FAPLs decision making process and lines of communication in
such a situation need thorough and urgent review in order to ensure
that no other club is similarly disadvantaged in the future.
Yours sincerely
DANIEL LEVY
Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur
