Jamie Carragher has called for Manchester City to be stripped of titles and handed a punishment severe enough to deter any future attempt to bend Premier League financial rules, following the club being found guilty on 114 of 115 charges.
Carragher calls for a reckoning
The former Liverpool defender said the scale of the institutional fraud and the failure to assist the investigation had left the positions of every senior City executive involved “untenable”. In his view, there can be no straightforward route back for the club while it continues to reject the findings.
“Until City admit what they have done, neither the club nor English football can move on, rebuild trust or begin what will be a long rehabilitation,” Carragher wrote.
City chief executive Ferran Soriano had maintained that the case rested on a false accusation, while describing the Premier League’s case in terms of conspiracy. Carragher dismissed that response, saying Soriano’s remarks echoed Donald Trump’s use of conspiracy claims and “alternative facts”, and lacked a credible basis.
The anger across the division
Carragher said there was understandable resentment elsewhere in the league, particularly among clubs who believe they lost most as City rose to the summit of English football.
He argued that Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal would each have a different honours record had City complied with the regulations. The point is not merely historical, he suggested, but goes to the heart of whether league rules carry any authority.
- City were found guilty on 114 of the 115 financial-rule allegations.
- Carragher said the executives connected with the case could not reasonably remain in place.
- He urged the club to acknowledge the wrongdoing rather than maintain its present defence.
- He called for titles to be removed and for sanctions strong enough to establish a lasting precedent.
- He said a serious penalty would warn prospective owners against following the same path.
Former players and a damaged legacy
Carragher also addressed former City players who have defended the club and its leadership. He said he understood why those who built their careers during a successful decade would want to protect their own achievements and trust the accounts offered by former executives.
But he believes that loyalty will be tested as the implications become clearer. Carragher suggested that the association of a decade-long playing career with the word “sham” would hurt players who deserved better from those running the club.
