Jamie Carragher has called for Manchester City to be stripped of their titles after the club was found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules.
The Premier League confirmed on Tuesday that the Etihad club had been found guilty of breaching its rules over a nine-year period by creating ‘sham’ contracts with commercial partners to secretly funnel £900million into its football operations.
City, who continue to deny any wrongdoing, won eight trophies, including three Premier League titles, during that period. City’s CEO Ferran Soriano claimed on Tuesday that the guilty verdicts against the club were based on ‘a single false accusation’ and a ‘Premier League conspiracy theory’.
In his column for The Telegraph, Carragher argued those honours should be stripped from the club, claiming the ‘honours boards of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal would look different in a world in which City followed the rules’.
The former Liverpool defender, 48, said: ‘City are in denial, refusing to acknowledge their reputation is shattered after being found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges against them.
‘Ferran Soriano, City’s chief executive, sounded more like Donald Trump referring to “conspiracies” and issuing a series of “alternative facts”. His statements were delusional and factually incorrect when he insisted they did no wrong and attempted to present the verdict as an “opinion”, when it is rooted in years of investigations and legal arguments.’
Jamie Carragher has called for Manchester City to be stripped of their titles after the club was found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League rules
Carragher argued that fans’ anger should be directed towards the ownership, but that the players will instead be ‘cast as the scapegoats for the sins of their executives’
Carragher argued that fans’ anger should be directed towards the ownership, but that the players will instead be ‘cast as the scapegoats for the sins of their executives’.
‘That is bound to have a psychological impact,’ he said. ‘One or two City players may already have an exit strategy in mind if they wish to add honours without a shadow cast over them.’
He added: ‘The titles have to be taken off City. The punishment has to be severe to give the rules meaning, establish a precedent and guarantee a deterrent for future owners who may be tempted to follow City’s lead.’
Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, argued that the club’s rivals should not be awarded Premier League titles retrospectively – despite the suggestion from his former team-mates Rio Ferdinand and David de Gea.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Rooney said: ‘I wouldn’t feel comfortable about accepting another Premier League medal if I’m being honest, because I don’t think we deserve it. We didn’t do enough that season to win the league.
‘I’m thinking as their players, they’re there doing everything they can to win the Premier League title and in their minds they’ve done it.
‘And, if those players have got no understanding of what’s going on above them, then if that happened to me – if all of a sudden Manchester United have been doing the same and I’m getting my Premier League medals taken away from me – I’d be absolutely devastated.
‘They might take them away but I wouldn’t want it because I don’t feel as a team we deserved it that year because we obviously didn’t finish first.’
‘One or two City players may already have an exit strategy in mind if they wish to add honours without a shadow cast over them,’ Carragher added
Rooney did, however, argue that he believes City should be relegated.
He added: ‘I’d put them in the lowest league they can go in and then put restrictions on them in terms of how much money they can spend for the next three or four seasons.
‘If you’re just putting them in the Championship, and I get that’s a massive punishment, they’re going to come back up. Whereas, I feel if they have got restrictions… League Two, whatever… that could be very difficult for them.
‘For instance, if they got a 20-point deduction for the next three years, then players won’t want to stay there. If it’s the Championship for a season, you could talk players round.
‘I’d go as big as I can really.’
