Five Premiership clubs are set to mount a legal challenge over the failure to deduct points from West Ham United for breaking rules, Wigan Athletic chairman Dave Whelan said this morning.
The move follows West Ham's top-flight survival with a 1-0 win at champions Manchester United, just over two weeks after they were only fined for breaching ownership rules with Argentine signings Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano.
Whelan said: "Charlton, Sheffield United, Wigan Athletic, Fulham and Middlesbrough are all determined that we should get justice and that West Ham should have been deducted points. Legally, we are being given strong advice that this can be challenged, whatever the Premier League says.
"It can go as far as the House of Lords but the problem there is that it will take too long, next season will be under way. We must establish whether this lad (Tevez) was registered in time to play for West Ham and whether they created a new transfer window to sign him.
"It has to be mounted very, very quickly . . . Monday and Tuesday are very important days and it has got to be pushed through."
While West Ham avoided the drop, Sheffield United were sent down on goal difference after losing 2-1 at home to Wigan.
Sheffield United plc chairman Kevin McCabe said: "I think most of the Premier League clubs and indeed other football clubs support this injustice that's come about this season.
"Four years ago, the Blades lost the playoff final and you felt gutted. This time around, I feel cheated. Yesterday's result was not the root cause of our relegation," he told Radio Four.
The BBC reported that two more unnamed clubs had pledged support to the challenge, which is bound to be opposed by the Premier League.
Speaking at last week's Soccerex conference, the league's chief executive Richard Scudamore said: "The rules have been followed and that is the end of the matter."
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