The Nick Carle Affair

Nick Carle’s agent Faisal Kashmiri has been fined £25,000 and suspended from conducting business during the transfer window in January and Crystal Palace have also been fined £25,000 for their part in the deal that took Nick Carle to Selhurst Park from Ashton Gate.

The breach of the regulations came because Kashmiri acted on behalf of two different clubs in consecutive deals for the same player. The deal has parallels with the Carlos Tevez affair which had a similar ruling passed in court today.

Bristol City FC were an innocent party in the deal, as was Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock. Ironically he was manager of the Sheffield United side who were relegated, as West Ham survived the drop at their expense, in the 2006/2007 season. Sheffield United claimed that this was due to the “illegal” signing of Tevez by a third party agent. West Ham were fined but had no points deducted for the offence and Sheffield United appealed for compensation. That appeal was upheld today by an independent arbitration panel although any compensation is yet to be determined.