News: Tottenham Hotspur yesterday accused the Premier League of an "abdication of its responsibility" and "inconsistency" in failing to order a postponement of Sunday's match at West Ham.
The allegations emerged in an open letter to the Premier League chairman Dave Richards from the White Hart Lane chairman Daniel Levy. In it Levy requested that the match - which ended in a 2-1 defeat after 10 Spurs players were struck down by a violent stomach bug attributed to food poisoning - be replayed.
When coupled with Arsenal's simultaneous 4-2 win over Wigan that result cost Spurs a place in the Champions League qualification tournament, an emotive outcome which has prompted the club to demand restitution from the league.
"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," said Levy with reference to the visit to the team hotel by league officials and the England team doctor Leif Sward.
"The (league's) chief executive (Richard Scudamore) 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.
"Whilst waiting for the opinion (of Sward) I was contacted from a distance by (Scudamore) and told 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. We feel let down by the FAPL's abdication of its responsibility to consider the request for a postponement fairly and after due consideration of all relevant factors."
The strength of Spurs' anger is underlined by the abandonment of former restraint. Never before have they issued such outspoken criticism of the league.
Although Levy's letter will be discussed at a specially-convened Premier League board meeting today, there is almost no chance of Spurs achieving a replay of the match. The league is fearful of setting a precedent for future injury-afflicted Premiership matches.
Spurs privately insist a replay is not the aim of the protest, rather a review of the processes involved in the decision when the league has a stated recourse in its handbook to postpone matches, but they cite the support of "a majority of Premier League clubs" for the replay.
Newcastle full-back Stephen Carr is looking forward to the start of next season after his red card in Sunday's victory over Chelsea was rescinded. Referee Mike Riley dismissed Carr for a challenge on Lassana Diarra, but the FA's disciplinary committee overturned the decision, sparing him a four-game ban at the start of next season.
