By DPA
London : Sheffield United will play in the Championship next season after they lost their legal battle against relegation from the English Premiership.
Sheffield had claimed that West Ham should have been docked points rather than being fined over irregularities in the registration of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano, which would have led to them being relegated instead.
The three-man arbitration panel Tuesday said they could not overturn an initial decision as it was not "perverse or irrational", but added that, had they been charged with making that original judgement, they "would, in all probability, have reached a different conclusion and deducted points from West Ham."
Sheffield United criticized the decision, but did not say whether they were considering further action.
"We are obviously very disappointed by this conclusion, in particular in circumstances where the tribunal recognized that the outcome of the decision turned out to be, in the panel's own words, unfortunate in the extreme and that Sheffield United have done nothing wrong to merit this outcome," said the club in a statement.