Premier League Team Cries Foul Over ‘Deal’

The Galaxy on Friday evening rejected claims by West Bromwich Albion that the Major League Soccer club had reneged on an agreement to play the English Premier League team in Los Angeles later this month.

“It’s pretty simple,” said Doug Hamilton, the Galaxy’s president and general manager. “There is no agreement in place. We were still discussing the possibility of a game.”

That was not West Bromwich’s interpretation.

The English club, which narrowly avoided relegation last season, issued a press release almost two weeks ago saying that it was going to play a two-game series in California against the Galaxy at the Home Depot Center on July 20 and against Chivas USA in Santa Barbara on July 26.

Neither MLS club confirmed that claim.

Instead, the Galaxy reached agreement to play Real Madrid at the Home Depot Center on July 18.

“I am angry and disappointed at the treatment of our club and we will be reporting all the circumstances to FIFA, and other relevant football authorities,” Jeremy Peace, West Bromwich Albion’s chairman, said on West Bromwich’s official website.

“We strongly believe we had a firm commitment from L.A. Galaxy who, on June 8, confirmed by e-mail that they had finalized their local arrangements to take West Bromwich Albion to their area and said they were ‘working diligently’ to complete the requisite contract.

“It was only when we felt certain that these two games would proceed that we informed our supporters via our official website so that anyone who wanted to travel to America could make their arrangements.”

Hamilton said he was surprised by that response.

“Again, we were in discussions about it,” he said. “There was no contract. There was no agreement in place. I was very surprised about the press release itself.”

The Galaxy originally had been negotiating with Everton, which finished fourth in the Premier League and thereby qualified for the European Champions League, but Everton bowed out after receiving a better offer from a club in Asia.

That brought West Bromwich into the picture, but the English club apparently jumped the gun, making its announcement before all the details could be worked out.

And then along came a better offer from Real Madrid.