A three-man arbitration panel will conclude a two-day hearing this afternoon to decide whether West Ham should face a fresh disciplinary hearing over the Carlos Tevez affair.

The panel is comprised of Sir Philip Otton, David Pannick QC and Nicholas Randall QC and must decide two matters: whether the decision of the independent disciplinary commission on 27 April to fine West Ham was legally flawed; and whether the League acted unlawfully by not de-registering Tevez.

The panel has no powers to decide what West Ham's penalty should have been, or be. Its sole aim is to judge whether proper procedure was followed in the first place. The League believes vindication of the original hearing is a certainty.

If, however, Sir Philip and his colleagues disagree, the next step would be another disciplinary hearing for West Ham, not automatic reinstatement for Sheffield United. Neither does the panel have any powers to compensate United financially.

Parry was called as witness because he was the first chief executive of the Premier League in the 1990s, and United wanted him to answer questions about the establishment of certain League rules. It is purely incidental that Parry first drew attention to West Ham's rule breaches over the signing of Tevez when Liverpool signed Javier Mascherano from them in January.

Sheffield United's plc chairman, Kevin McCabe, also appeared as a witness yesterday, as did the League's chief executive Richard Scudamore and general secretary Mike Foster. McCabe said afterwards: "The arbitration is going well and I think the panel recognise all the points of the case."