Former Sheffield United owner Kevin McCabe has claimed that West Ham could have gone bankrupt if he had demanded more compensation over the Hammers' illegal signing of Carlos Tévez in the 2006/07 campaign.
The Argentine arrived at the club that summer and scored the vital goal which saw them avoid relegation from the Premier League at the Blades' expense on the final day of the season. However, it was later discovered that West Ham had broken rules on third-party ownership to sign him.
McCabe eventually settled for £20m compensation to avoid taking West Ham to court over the ordeal, but he has now revealed (via The Mirror) that he only accepted that amount because he feared West Ham, whose Icelandic owners were struggling financially at the time, would go bankrupt if it went to court.