We all know about Mohamed Al Fayed’s love of lawyers, but this one looks interesting.
Fulham have long been sore about missing out on Peter Crouch and are apparently unsatisfied by the result of a Premier League investigation into Sir Dave Richards’ role in the transfer.
Fulham are asking the court to order an injunction restraining the chairman [Richards] from taking any role in the transfer of players or, alternatively, that the court remove the chairman from the board of the Premier League,” the e-mail said.”The inquiry concluded the chairman’s actions had not been detrimental to Fulham, and that it was not inappropriate for the chairman to assist in such matters when requested to do so by a club.
“The claim is that Fulham have been unfairly prejudiced in their capacity as a member of the Premier League, as a result of alleged assistance provided by the chairman to Portsmouth in securing the transfer of Peter Crouch to Tottenham Hotspur in August 2009.”
Richards, who has built up a formidable power base in domestic football after stepping down as Sheffield Wednesday’s chairman, is expected to vigorously contest the claims.
Be funny if it transpires that Pompey initiated the deal, on the basis that Spurs paid 9M in a single lump sum whereas Fulham were offering 11M over 5 years.
Presumably both Crouch & Spurs would then be in a position to sue Fulham & ask for Al Fayed to be removed.