The FA Premier League came under renewed pressure last night from the “Gang of Four” incensed by its handling of the Carlos Tévez affair. Wigan Athletic called for the “resignation” of Sir Dave Richards, the Premier League chairman, and Richard Scudamore, the chief executive, and Sheffield United have taken the first steps in their legal challenge to have West Ham United deducted points for breaching League rules in the transfer of the Argentina forward.

In a letter shown to The Times, Dave Whelan, the Wigan chairman, questions the conduct of the two League officials since the independent commission imposed a fine of £5.5 million on West Ham last month. Whelan queries the time it took to clear Tévez to play when the League had been given the power by the independent commission to remove the forward’s registration.

The Premier League board, made up of Scudamore, Richards and Mike Foster, the company secretary, took that decision within hours of the judgment being announced in the early afternoon of April 27. “It required full discussion and was a dereliction of duties,” Whelan said.

The Wigan chairman then asks for their resignation. He also reiterates that the League has failed to provide the evidence that West Ham cancelled the agreement with the companies that own the economic rights to Tévez. The League has said that it has seen West Ham’s termination of the contract with Media Sports Investment and Just Sport, as well as a letter from the companies acknowledging receipt.

However, the League claims that it cannot ask the companies if they have terminated the agreement because they do not come under its jurisdiction.

The League has said that it is willing to debate third-party agreements at the meeting of the Barclays Premiership clubs in two weeks. “The board will be giving careful consideration to how we might learn lessons from this situation to protect the future interests of the League and its member clubs,” the League said in a six-page letter to the clubs yesterday.

Last night, the League was considering its response to Sheffield United’s request for an arbitration panel. The club, relegated to the Coca-Cola Championship on Sunday, want a three-man tribunal appointed to consider the decision to fine West Ham rather than dock points. The League’s rules for deciding disputes this way say that arbitration is “binding”.

United are seeking a “hold on preparations for next season which wrongly assume that West Ham remains a Premiership club” and “an assessment of the clubs’ potential claim for damages”.

Neil Warnock stepped down as manager after 7½ years yesterday, suggesting that the Tévez affair had forced him out. But he said that he “would be on the phone like a shot” to reapply for his job should the Yorkshire club be reinstated.

“A number of issues over the past few weeks have left a bitter taste,” Warnock said. “If things had worked out differently, I’d be sitting here signing a new contract and talking about trying to get into Europe. I don’t feel as if we’ve been relegated, though the maths of the table say we have. These experiences just drive me on to want to come back and try to put one over on one or two people.

“The commissioner, when I read the report, said he felt sorry for West Ham fans and if the inquiry had taken place earlier in the season it would have been a points deduction. He should have been at Bramall Lane on Sunday with me, having a chat with our fans.”