Roy Keane has said he would throw away his Manchester City medals if he had won them as a player, after the club were found guilty of 114 of the 115 Premier League charges brought over alleged financial rule breaches.
The former Manchester United captain did not spare the City ownership, arguing that success on the pitch had been assisted by wrongdoing away from it. His remarks came after England’s 2-0 Nations League win over the Czech Republic, with the scale of the case again putting the champions’ achievements under the hardest possible light.
How the case was put together
- The Premier League case concerned nine seasons and alleged that City had misrepresented their finances through commercial arrangements.
- It said the club used agreements which did not reflect the true terms between the parties, including arrangements with a number of commercial partners.
- Those deals were said to have inflated City’s stated income while reducing their apparent costs, allowing greater spending within competition rules.
- The Premier League alleged that sponsorship agreements had been set at exceptionally high values, but that the named sponsors paid only part of the sums involved.
- Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd, City’s owner, was said to have made up the remaining payments.
- The charges alleged that City’s financial position had been falsely presented by more than €1.05bn.
Keane fears a difficult future for City
Keane said the people responsible knew their actions would hurt others but went ahead regardless. If he were part of the City squad, he said, he would have no hesitation in binning his medals.
“That is cheating,” Keane said, maintaining that City’s wins on the field came while cheating was taking place. He also questioned whether the present squad could sustain elite standards under owners he described as cheats.
The 55-year-old said the situation would be difficult for the players, manager Enzo Maresca and the club itself, given what City now represent. In his view, it becomes harder to maintain excellence when the ownership has been willing to break the rules.
Wright calls for a punishment to match the case
Ian Wright said players may have been told that nothing improper was happening, but believed footballers would still sense when matters did not add up.
The former Arsenal forward called for an unprecedented sanction, describing the outcome as a defining day for the Premier League and saying the affair was deeply murky.
Rooney would not take a retrospective title
Wayne Rooney, whose Manchester United side lost the 2011-12 title race to City, said he would not want the Premier League trophy handed to him retrospectively if City were stripped of it.
Speaking on the Stick to United podcast, Rooney said he would not feel right accepting another winners’ medal because United had not done enough to finish top that season.
He nevertheless expressed sympathy for City players who may not have known what was being arranged in the boardroom. Those footballers, he said, would believe they had earned their titles through their own efforts.
Rooney added that he would be devastated if the same thing happened to him: if Manchester United had acted in that way and his medals were subsequently removed. Yet, even if medals from 2011-12 became available to United, he said he would not accept one. The table, he argued, did not have his side in first place.
