West Ham are appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against paying compensation to Sheffield United.

A tribunal has ruled that Sheffield United should receive compensation for their 2007 relegation from the Premier League because West Ham stayed up with the help of Carlos Tevez, whose transfer broke competition rules.

But West Ham have already paid a £5.5 million fine for that misdemenaour.

A West Ham statement read: "We acknowledge again that the club broke Premier League rules in the original signing of Carlos Tevez but we were dealt with accordingly by an independent Premier League commission and accepted the significant punishment handed down at that time.

"In light of this and the wider implications of this latest ruling for English football we have decided to ask that the case be considered by the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

Football Association chairman Lord Triesman has criticised for West Ham for pursuing an appeal after agreeing to FA arbitration.

He said: "If it is going to go through the courts it is going to drag on, and on, and on.

"I never cease to be amazed about the ability of lawyers to argue about these things and that is people's right of course but I think it would be much simpler for people to observe the rules of football.

"The FA is a pretty decent regulatory body and there is no reason why a very big club shouldn't feel that it should regard those rules too."

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.