Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has reflected on Manchester City's FFP guilty verdict and how it impacted his career
Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has reflected on Manchester City's FFP guilty verdict and how it impacted his career
Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has lifted the lid on whether he would want to win a bucketload of medals retrospectively in the wake of the Premier League’s decision to find Manchester City guilty on 114 counts of financial irregularities, while a high-profile former Cityzens goalkeeper has revealed why he wants a stunning 125-point penalty imposed on the club.
The eight-time champions have been caught in the biggest storm of the Premier League’s 34-year history following the recent verdict on their finances between 2009 and 2018. And having been found guilty of cooking the books and claiming a number of ‘sham’ arrangements that inflated their income by some £830m in that time, they now await their punishment.
It is important to note, in the interests of fairness, that Manchester City continue to plead their innocence, and we exclusively revealed, in conversation with a top sports lawyer, that they could take the fight to clear their name all the way to the High Court.
Nonetheless, with an independent commission now deciding on the best course of action – and with punishments ranging from a demotion from the Premier League, a hefty points penalty, and a multi-year transfer window ban – one of the players most badly affected by their apparent cheating is iconic former Reds captain Gerrard, who has now broken his silence on the impact it had on his career.
Amid claims City could be stripped of their titles won during that foul period and with Liverpool potentially on standby to be awarded Premier League title wins in 2009, 2014 and 2019, Gerrard – the victim of a famous slip against Chelsea in 2014 that handed the title initiative back to City – has revealed why he has no interest in being awarded medals retrospectively.
“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 to [win],” Gerrard said on The Overlap.
“I’m not someone who’s going to sit here and say I would accept a Premier League medal or I want one that they’ve got.”
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Gerrard more upset about Liverpool’s lost memories
The 46-year-old is more pained by being robbed of the memories, wistfully adding: “I think I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ve never won the Premier League, that I was short in that department in terms of winning it.
“I’ve come to terms with that. I’ve come to terms with the incident that happened to me at the back end of that season.
“And I’ve heard a lot of City players, a lot of City fans, celebrity fans, say, ‘you can’t take those moments away from us’.
“What about the memories they’ve taken away from not just possibly me and the team that I played in, but over that period of nine or 10 years?
“Spurs fans, United fans, Everton fans, teams at the bottom, teams in the cups.
“The City ex-players, current players and the City owners, everyone connected with City, have got to think about the memories that they potentially have stolen from everyone else.”
Gerrard’s comments will certainly strike a chord with a lot of people, and while plenty will admire his honesty in ‘falling short’, there are many who will feel a legendary player of his status deserves to be remembered as a champion in light of the Man City verdict.
Schmeichel calls for 125-point penalty for Man City
Meanwhile, a former Man City player who had a foot in both City and Manchester United during his career, Peter Schmeichel, has shared what he thinks is the right punishment for the Cityzens’ alleged misdeeds – and he wants to see a points penalty of 125 points administered over a five-year period.
Explaining his logic, Schmeichel said: “I think, of course, you keep them in the Premier League.
“But for every year they’re in the Premier League, the next five years, they start on -25 points.
“It’s also staying as a reminder to everybody else that when you cheat in the Premier League, and if you cheat all the other clubs, it’s heavy.
“I think this is important: a transfer ban for five years and a big fine.
“And then I think the ownership should be forced to sell the club. I don’t think they’re fit to run this football club, and they’re not fit to run a football club in England.
“Also, I think bans for everyone who has been in on this. They cannot operate in football.”
Whether they would accept that punishment gracefully or not remains a hypothetical question, though a top sports lawyer has exclusively revealed the risks that City are taking by continuing to plead their innocence, explaining how it could ultimately affect their punishment.
Elsewhere, a well-known presenter claims a 60-point deduction is coming City’s way, though that was met with an instant angry reaction, amid claims it is ‘not big enough’.
Another journalist claims City could be forced to start again after tumbling out of the EFL and having revealed why the club faces what is described as ‘football oblivion’.