Former Liverpool great Steven Gerrard has urged brutal sanctions against Manchester City over the cheating scandal that has rocked world football and threatened to derail the Premier League season.
But the English legend hopes the players don’t bear the brunt of the penalties – and issued a surprise verdict on whether he would accept a Premier League title should City be stripped of theirs.
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City, who have been found guilty of more than 100 Premier League financial rule breaches – including “sham” contracts – between 2009 and 2018, famously pipped Gerrard’s Reds for the title in 2013/14.
It meant he ended his glittering career without a Premier League trophy, with Liverpool only ending their lengthy drought in 2019/20.
The 46-year old, who managed Aston Villa against City during a dramatic 3-2 win on the final day of the 2021/22 season as Pep Guardiola’s team secured another title, has called for the club to be “stripped” of all titles won during the period the cheating occurred – or at the very least a “star” be placed alongside each of their winning seasons.
“There needs to be an example set historically,” Gerrard told The Overlap Daily.
“There needs to be minimum a star, because then it doesn’t matter whether the titles are stripped or not.
“As soon as that star’s there, everyone knows that happened because of what we all know happened.
“There needs to be a punishment moving forward.”
Debate has raged in the weeks since the scandal broke over the extent of the sanctions the club will face, with calls raging from relegation to the Championship, to the biggest fines ever imposed against a football club, to forcing the club’s owners to sell.
For Gerrard, nothing less than “multi-year punishments” will suffice.
“I think putting them down to the Championship’s not fair on the EFL. I don’t think it’s enough because they’ll bounce back,” he said.
“You look at that team yesterday (against Liverpool): can you imagine that in the Championship, with all due respect?
“It’s not fair on the teams playing against City week in, week out. It’s not fair on the potential team that could be the third team to come up.
“I think it needs to be a transfer ban, it needs to be points over a period of time.
“Make them suffer like they made everyone else suffer for the nine, 10 years that they’ve done it for.”
However, Gerrard stopped short of calling for City players over the years to also be stripped of their awards, expressing sympathy for their situation.
“It’s not personal for me in terms of the Man City players, because they’re all outstanding players; they’ve lived the moment and they deserved it,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want individual players to give stuff back, that wouldn’t be right.”
The former great was also adamant a retroactive Reds Premier League title “wouldn’t be the same” as winning one in the moment.
“I’m not someone who’s going to sit here and say I would accept a Premiership medal or I want one that they’ve got,” he said.
“I think I’ve come to terms that I’ve never won the Premier League, that I was short in that department.
“I’ve heard a lot of City players, a lot of City fans and celebrity fans, say, ‘You can’t take them moments away from us’. What about the memories they took away from, not just possibly me and the team that I played in, but over that period of time of nine or 10 years?”
“The City ex-players, current players, City owners and everyone connected with City have got to think about the memories that they potentially have stolen away from everyone else.”
Former Manchester United great Wayne Rooney, who like Gerrard was denied a Premier League title by City on a thrilling final day of the 2011/12 season, agreed, telling BBC Sport players who “didn’t know what was going on” didn’t deserve to have their achievement taken off them and awarded to him and his teammates.
“I look at it from a player’s point of view – I’m assuming all them players didn’t know what was going on,” he said.
“They went onto the football pitch and they won the league, we finished second.
“I wouldn’t want a medal for finishing second.”
Rooney has previously said on the Stick to United podcast that he is “happy with the five (Premier League titles) I’ve won”.
“I wouldn’t want this one,” he said.
“Should they get it stripped for what the owners have done? Yeah maybe, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable accepting it.”
City are unbeaten atop the Premier League table with 18 of a possible 18 points after six weeks, with an emphatic 3-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield in their first match since the scandal broke their most dominant performance yet.
However, the uncertainty hovering over the club’s future has cast a pall over the season, with Piers Morgan calling the result a “total farce” and former Liverpool great Jamie Carragher urging a quick resolution.
“In some ways, the feeling around Manchester City will only grow the more they win. It will keep growing and growing around the country,” Carragher told Sky Sports.
“We need a resolution as soon as possible. We’re watching a game today, but what does it actually mean?”
City’s next assignment is a Champions League group stage clash with Paris Saint-Germain at the Etihad, their first home match post-cheating scandal.