Sorry Lou but I totally disagree. This article highlights that two of the worst instances of rule-breaking came in games which assisted Fulham and West Ham in finishing above us. If the Premier League had followed their own rule book and punished Liverpool (as they have Wolves), then Man Utd might have been compelled to play a stronger team against West Ham.
You can't overemphasise the devastating effect that relegation has had on the Blades and partly because the Premier League were happy to cowtow to two of their main cash cows Liverpool and Man Utd. It is too much to ask that The Premier League enforces their rules for ALL clubs not just those they don't care about? All we wanted was a level playing field.
Sothall, although I appreciate the sentiments behind what you’re saying (I know it’s in the name of fair play) my point still stands that you cannot dictate another team's selection policy. The whole point of sport is to allow individuals/teams to compete to the best of their ability. By resting players, a football manager deems this to be advantageous to themselves and in Wolves’ case a chance to prevent injury to key players before a crucial game towards their PL survival. This is their way of competing at the top level.
Suppose he sends out his (arguably) best 11 against Man U and instead of resting them, tells them to take it easy and not go all out (giving them a chance to be fit for the next game). Is that immoral as well? If so, how do you prove it? You’re then sending out 11 of your best players, but they’re not trying as hard as say – a second eleven would. The point I am trying to make is that it’s all a matter of opinion and his ‘best’ eleven for that particular game cannot be defined by anyone other than the manager. Mick McCarthy did not set out to cheat other clubs, he set out to do his best for Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club and as far as a neutral can be, I 100% back his decision.
The example you used in your post is one that ‘supposedly’ cost our beloved club its top flight status. The fact that the final league standings were to our displeasure does not mean that we were ‘cheated’ by other clubs. I have said countless times that the Blades had survival in their own hands and could have stayed up quite easily, irrespective of what other clubs were doing. The fact is our manager and some of the players bottled it. That’s why we got relegated and you can blame anyone else you like – the truth is in the mirror.
Are we forgetting about the fact that Warnock rested players in important games that season? I seem to remember him resting 2 or 3 key players for a home match against Arsenal , as we had a winnable home game the following week. Does the fact that we won that game make our manager’s conduct acceptable? Strangely Chelsea, Man U, Liverpool etc. didn’t complain about that fixture. He also did this when we played away to Man U, so sorry – you can’t have it both ways.
I agree that the rules and enforcement of, should be the same for all clubs and as this has set a precedent I want to see it enforced on the big four as well in future. Sadly you will never see a level playing field because as touched on by almost everyone here the PL will manipulate different situations to suit their favoured clubs.
