In the long shadow of Manchester City’s financial case, former midfielder Samir Nasri has offered a public show of confidence in the club’s leadership, insisting that the honours won during his Etihad years were earned on the pitch.
Key takeaways
- Manchester City face potential punishment after being found responsible for 115 breaches of Premier League financial rules covering 2009 to 2018.
- Possible measures range from a financial penalty and points sanctions to the removal of honours or expulsion from the competition.
- Nasri says he contacted the club chairman last week to offer support.
- The former France international says City officials are confident about the eventual outcome.
- Nasri won two league titles, the League Cup and the Community Shield during his six years at City.
Nasri backs City from France
Now 39 and working as a television pundit in France, Nasri has joined the former City players following the situation closely as the possible consequences of the case remain under discussion.
The ex-Arsenal, Marseille and West Ham midfielder spent six seasons with City from 2011 to 2017, although his final campaign, 2016-17, was spent on loan at Sevilla. His spell in Manchester included Premier League triumphs in 2011-12 and 2013-14, the 2013-14 League Cup and the 2012 Community Shield.
Those trophies could be affected should the club receive sporting sanctions, but Nasri said he was not anxious. “I am not worried,” he said. “Last week I sent a message to the club president to give my support, to make sure everything was all right. They are very confident and certain about how this case will end.”
“We won them on the field”
Nasri acknowledged that former City figures have been speaking about the proceedings, but maintained that the team’s achievements should be judged by what happened during matches.
“I have seen some former players discussing it here and there,” he said. “We won those titles on the field. They can take the titles away, but we know that we genuinely won them.”
For Nasri, the case reaches beyond a club’s boardroom. It also places a question mark over a medal collection built during a defining chapter in City’s rise, and over the players who were part of those title-winning squads.
