WEST HAM are facing a Football Association charge alleging they broke rules on anti-doping.
The FA have launched disciplinary proceedings against the Hammers claiming the club failed to ensure its “Club Whereabouts” information was correct on three occasions in the past year.
PA:Press Association
The Premier League club have been given a week to respond to the charges.
West Ham face sanctions under rule 14(d) of the FA regulations, which bring football into line with the laws of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
It surrounds the club making sure it provides information making it clear where their players, or at least one of their players, are at certain times of each day, for drug testers to potentially carry out random checks.
The Hammers have acknowledged receipt of the charges and have promised to work with the FA to resolve the issues.
There is no indication of any wrong-doing on behalf of any of the players, and it is understood the breaches are down to administrative errors.
One one occasion, it appears testers visited the correct block of flats to get a random sample from a player who was in the building, but they had been provided with an incorrect door number.
A West Ham spokesman said: “The breach relates to administrative oversights on The FA’s whereabouts system, for example a player’s address had been registered and the house number digits transposed, and the Club will be responding to The FA in due course.
“We would like to make it clear that the breach is a Club administrative matter and does not concern any of our players.”
It is a similar charge to the one brought against Manchester City earlier this season.
In that instance, City were fined £35,000 and given a warning after they admitted their own administrative errors had led to the rule breaches.
Unlike in other sports, the three strikes and and a ban does not apply in the same way to the way club’s administer their overall information in football.
It is likely the Hammers will be hit with a slap on the wrist and a fine if their explanation is accepted by the FA.