Announcing its decision, the Premier League said in a statement, "It is the board's complaint that there were agreements in relation to both these transfers that enabled third parties to acquire the ability materially to influence the club's policies and/or the performance of its teams in League matches and/or the competitions set out in Rule E10."

"The board's view is this constitutes a breach of rule U18. West Ham failed to disclose the third party agreements to the Premier League and/or deliberately withheld these agreements from the Premier League. The board's view is this constitutes a breach of rule B13, which states 'In all matters and transactions relating to the League each club shall behave towards each other club and the League with the utmost good faith'."

According to the Premier League, the signings of Tevez and Mascherano on the deadline day was against the rules as they had registered with third party Media Sports Investment, who owned the rights of the players. It added that with West Ham failing to show vital documents, the club will be charged under rule U18, which forbids the influence of any third party.

West Ham has 14 days to respond to the charges. If found guilty, a point deduction will likely be imposed and with the club lying 9 points from safety with just 10 matches to go, the punishment will most likely condemn it to Championship football next season.

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