The former Manchester United captain said the medals had been won by ‘cheating’
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Roy Keane called the verdict 'bittersweet' due to the reputational damage that will come for the Premier League
Roy Keane called the verdict 'bittersweet' due to the reputational damage that will come for the Premier League (Reuters)
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Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has said “I’d be sticking those medals in the bin” if he were a Manchester City player, after the club was found guilty of all charges related to breaking the Premier League’s financial rules in a seismic verdict on Tuesday.
The Premier League’s damning judgement ruled that the club had overstated its income by “over £830m” and “relied on sham agreements to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs” over a nine-year period from 2009 to 2018, during which it won eight trophies.
The independent commission’s report also concluded that witnesses had “given evidence at the hearing that they knew to be untrue and so had been dishonest.”
City continue to protest their innocence and have until Friday 2 October to appeal the judgement.
Keane, speaking on ITV Sport ahead of England’s 2-0 win over the Czech Republic on Tuesday night, said those eight trophies won during this period were redundant having been obtained by “cheating”.
He said: “If I was a player, I'd be 100% sticking those medals in the bin. Of course you would, it's cheating.
“They won it on the pitch because cheating was going on.”
Of the club, he said: “They knew it would hurt a lot of people, but they've still done it.”
Keane’s fellow pundit Ian Wright, also speaking on ITV, described it as “cheating on an industrial scale” and called for “an unprecedented punishment.”
Sanctions have yet to be applied, with the possibility that City could be stripped of the titles won during that period, which included three Premier League titles.
Keane’s former United teammate and fellow pundit Wayne Rooney said he was opposed to the trophies being reallocated; United finished runners-up behind City in the 2011-2012 season.
He said on the Stick to United podcast: “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.”