West Ham vs Sheffield Utd - No Result Expected

The FA have made a strange announcement concerning the arbitration between Sheffield Utd and West Ham in the case of the fork makers flight from reality. An FA spokesman said,

"This is a private arbitration between two parties at which the FA has no involvement.

"It would be up to the parties to decide as and when they wanted to announce any outcome."

Two things strike me as odd about this statement. Firstly, the FA have appointed the arbitrators and whilst strictly speaking they don't work for the FA, it is stretching it to say the FA has 'no involvement.'

Secondly saying that it is up to the two parties to announce any outcome is just weird. Does this mean that West Ham and Sheffield Utd have come to some arrangement that will never be released to the fans?

If that happens I don't suppose the fans of either club will be particularly happy.