I find myself torn.

Half of me (which is still a considerable amount) wants Sheffield United to fight this Tevez case to the death, to not give up until they either win a reprieve or huge amounts in compensation.

The other half wants them to bow out of this legal fight gracefully. They lost the appeal so they should just come to terms with the idea of playing in the Championship next season and stop throwing a tantrum.

To be honest, when the arbitration panel issued their decision not to force the Premier League to review the West Ham Tevez punishment, I fully expected the Blades to hold up their hands and say ‘fair enough’. I really didn’t expect them to keep stamping their feet all the way to the High Court.

But that is exactly where this footballing mess is going to end up. On Friday 13th July just to make it more interesting.

Sheffield United’s chairman Kevin McCabe has admitted he has no idea exactly what he hopes to achieve through the civil action.

“I still believe Sheffield United have a legal case that can now be taken from what I loosely term the sporting courts to the commercial courts. Where that will take us I really don’t know,” he said.

I think the reality is that Sheffield United will be playing Championship football next season. By the time the High Court comes out with any judgement it will be too late to change anything anyway.

What the club should be pushing for is big time compensation. The arbitration panel admitted the original decision not to deduct West Ham points was a wrong one. And that is what just about everybody apart from Hammer fans agree on.

Yet Sheffield United’s argument can no longer be about reversing the original decision, it can now only be about achieving some sort of financial apology from the Premier League for allowing such a stupid and morally wrong decision to be taken in the first place.

And that I will support 100 per cent.

Wimbledon organisers

The organisers of Wimbledon need to take a long hard look at their set up if they are to avoid fiascos like the excuse for a tournament we have had to endure this year.

I realise that nobody can legislate for the rain and, no matter how meticulous your pre-tournament planning is, it only takes a few drops of the stuff to throw everything off course in the delicate world of tennis.

But that’s no excuse for the mess that this year’s championships have become. For example, Rafael Nadal played his third round match over the course of five days because of the weather interruptions and match backlogs. Meanwhile, tournament favourite and defending champion Roger Federer spent those same five days with his feet up watching the telly.

I appreciate that from 2009 Wimbledon’s Centre Court will be covered and that should help ease disruptions in the big matches but it will not solve all the problems we have seen this year.

As it stands now, the top players are effectively having to play a match a day in a bid to get the tournament back on its time-schedule and concluded by tomorrow.

And that sort of physical demand on the players can only mean one thing – a fall in standards which is not fair on them, on the paying spectators and the very image of Wimbledon overall.

As much as the authorities may see it as admitting defeat, I would suggest the time has come to either think about roofing a few more courts or else moving the tournament as a whole further into July.

It might be a break with tradition, but it would certainly help restore Wimbledon’s battered image.

Jermaine Defoe

Jermaine Defoe is one of two things: either a man with awesome amounts of pride, determination and self-belief or just an idiot who is scared to move out of London.

The little England striker has vowed to stay at Spurs and fight for his place even though everybody – no doubt himself included – knows he will be little more than fourth choice.

Ahead of him in the pecking order are Berbatov and Keane as well as new arrival Darren Bent. Now that’s quite a formidable line-up and one which I very much doubt will allow Defoe anything more than a bit-part next season.

There are other clubs who want him and I am fairly sure he would walk into the first teams at three quarters of the clubs in the Premier League. And that’s what he needs if he wants to fulfill his potential – regular first team football.

Yet somehow the idea of moving to Portsmouth or Aston Villa seems not to tickle the fancy of the 24-year-old.

Watch this space because I am pretty darned sure that, come January, when Defoe has watched Spurs from the sideline for 20 matches and played a total of 11 minutes first team football, the idea of moving away from White Hart Lane will be all too appealing…

Quote of the week

For quote of the week we actually have to go back 52 weeks and take another listen to what our old friend Thierry ‘Bend the Truth’ Henry said while signing on at Arsenal for the ‘rest of his career’.

“This is my last contract. I’ve never played in Spain and never will,” he said.

Well. That’s pretty darned bad news for Barcelona then. What will he do with his time over the next three years…?

Contact James on: [email protected]