West Ham banned from europe?

[badajozjim]

I've just read on a couple of the spanish papers that Uefa has banned the spammars from playing in europe next season. Is this true?

 

[DoublePivot]

Not yet

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...-European-ban-over-accounts-and-takeover.html

 

[freeeki]

West Ham could miss out on a place in the Europa League next season after doubts emerged over their ability to satisfy the demands of the Uefa Club licence required to enter European competition.

West Ham occupy the seventh and last European qualification place in the Premier League, which would earn them a place in the competition that replaces the Uefa Cup, but they risk being barred from the competition if they do not meet the licence demands.

The club's failure to declare their accounts and doubts over their ultimate ownership are understood to have prevented completion of the licence application.

The club missed the initial April 30 deadline for applications to be submitted to the joint Premier League/Football Association committee that administers the system on Uefa's behalf, and they have until the end of the month to satisfy the licence conditions.
West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola has maintained an enthusiastic pursuit of the European spot while other managers have questioned the competition's worth.

West Ham remain confident that they will meet Uefa's demands by the end of the season and say the issue is a technicality caused by the imminent change of ownership.

Icelandic bank Straumur is expected to take control at the end of the season. Straumur is a major creditor of Hansa, the holding company owned by club chairman Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson, that went into administration last year.

Uefa requires clubs to meet a series of financial, legal and administrative conditions before they are admitted to its competitions. Among them is that clubs declare audited accounts. West Ham's accounts are yet to be signed off by the banks.

Uefa also requires clubs to provide future financial forecasts as evidence that the club is a going concern, and with the ownership situation fluid, West Ham have been unable to provide certainty.

Straumur is unlikely to act to seal its takeover of the club until the season is over and club sources stress that they will provide the necessary guarantees to Uefa once that happens.

Sources close to Straumur have told The Daily Telegraph that they consider the club to be a significantly under-valued asset, and will attempt to retain ownership until the markets return and it gains in value.

Uncertainty over the club's future since the Icelandic economy collapsed have been a significant distraction for Zola at Upton Park this season and the club is likely to have to be self-financing going forward. To that end the Europa League would be a welcome source of income.

Interesting!!

 

[badajozjim]

I hope it's true because then it would be a race between us and Fulham, Man city play manu away and will probably lose and then they face us at home which i think we'll win. Fulham face aston villa at home, newcastle away and everton at home anything could happen it could be a very exciting end to the season for us.

 

[freeeki]

West Ham, Fulham and Man City all have fixtures this weekend which they could easily lose.

If we can do Everton over, that puts us in a very very good position with two games to go. That said, it'd be nice to know that 8th behind West Ham would be good enough to get into Europe!

 

[Dr Know]

Some more info here, a little less hopeful though

http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=46278

 

[gibbs131]

haha. They can't do anything right. Transfers, ownership, crowd obesity.

 

[freeeki]

haha. They can't do anything right. Transfers, ownership, crowd obesity.

Oh I let out a real-life LOL at that. :rofl:

Rep coming your way sir.

 

[Banny]

poor old spanners. those jellied eels wont save them now

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

There's already a thread on this in General Football.