"The Rest Is Football: Bursting Onto the Stage" Live Show
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 4: Gary Lineker on stage during "The Rest Is Football: Bursting Onto the Stage" Live Show at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall on September 04, 2026 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Klug/Getty Images)
Leeds United and other Premier League clubs will be awaiting judgement on Manchester City’s stunning 114 charges confirmed this week.
Arguably the biggest story in Premier League history dropped during this international break. Manchester City have been found guilty on virtually all charges relating to financial doping from 2009 to 2018.
The question now is how the league see fit to dish out punishment to Man City, with every club in the division and even in the EFL waiting patiently.
“Mid-table” – Gary Lineker takes astounding Manchester City punishment stance
The range of punishments that the Citizens could face is unprecedented. No club has been found in breach with such outrageous cheating in the history of the game than this.
So, speculation is rife already about how the Premier League and other relevant bodies could deal with the guilty party.
Gary Lineker has been a soft touch on the matter, though, suggesting that a rolling points deduction for five seasons would be enough, but only enough of a deduction to nudge them out of Europe.
“Some interesting ones, do you give them a big point reduction and make sure they get relegated and then they’re in the Championship?” Lineker said on The Rest is Football. “Then, what do the Championship do with Manchester City? So, obviously we have different governing bodies in our game. We’ve got the Premier League then we’ve got the Football League, which is totally different and how do they handle it?
“I saw an interesting one that I think, you know, is possibly viable that you could maybe give them a 20-25 point reduction for the next five seasons. So, they decelerate and they stay in the mid-table, which is an interesting one.
“Obviously, probably a transfer ban for quite some time and a huge fine, obviously that won’t make any difference to Manchester City in reality. So, watch this space really, isn’t it?
Leeds United would hate Gary Lineker’s Man City points deduction suggestion
If you were to have deducted 25 points from Man City’s last five seasons, they would have had these finishes instead:
25/26: 8th on 53 points (qualify for Conference League)
24/25: 14th on 46 points
23/24: 5th on 66 points (qualify for Europa League)
22/23: 6th on 64 points (qualify for Europa League)
21/22: 6th on 68 points (qualify for Europa League)
So, if Lineker’s suggestion was fact, Man City would still have every chance of staying in Europe in a period where they need serious, firm sporting sanctions to strip away their current stature. This position was only afforded to them due to £900million worth of doping.
Any punishment that comes their way has to completely remove them from this league. If they get a measly 25 points off, they suddenly become Leeds’ and others’ rivals direct competition instead.
Why should we be effectively punished for Man City’s cheating by them becoming our problem? That’s not fair, and they need the book throwing at them.