Manchester United legend Roy Keane has said he would throw his “medals in the bin” if he was a Manchester City player.
His comments came after the Premier League confirmed City had been found guilty of all charges related to breaching financial rules.
It was on Tuesday evening that the bombshell news dropped as the Premier League confirmed City had been found guilty of flouting its rules over a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018 by creating “sham” contracts with commercial partners.
The backlash has been vociferous, despite City maintaining they have not done any wrongdoing.
Keane, working as a pundit on ITV Sport on Tuesday, offered his verdict saying: “If I was a player, I’d be 100 per cent sticking those medals in the bin. Of course you would, it’s cheating.
“They won it on the pitch because cheating was going on. They knew it would hurt a lot of people, but they’ve still done it.”
Keane’s fellow pundit Ian Wright also on ITV, referred to City as “cheating on an industrial scale” and called for “an unprecedented punishment.”
Everyone is now wondering what punishment will be handed out to City. Another former United player, Wayne Rooney, is against stripping them of titles won during the aforementioned period and would prefer them to be punished by demotion.
He said: “I’d put them in the lowest league they can go in and then put restrictions on them in terms of how much money they can spend for the next three or four seasons.
“If you’re just putting them in the Championship, and I get that’s a massive punishment, they’re going to come back up. Where, I feel if they have got restrictions… League Two, whatever… that could be very difficult for them.
“For instance, if they got a 20-point deduction for the next three years then players won’t want to stay there. If it’s Championship for a season, you could talk players round.
“I’d go as big as I can really.”
