No 3rd party ownership was already outlawed & West Ham had to let them leave, so they went to Rags & Dippers on a 3rd party ownership contract.
We did not sign Tevez from the Rags or West Ham we bought out his contract.
The Rags were given permission by the premier league to secure a 2 year loan from MSI & confirmed by David Gill.
“Ultimately the people who controlled him, because he wasn’t owned by a club, it was the people we did the deal with to get him in for two years, they basically got a lot more money by taking him to City, it became a financial thing for them.”