Carragher demands City be stripped of titles and owners removed after guilty verdict

Jamie Carragher has called for Manchester City to be stripped of their trophies and have their owners removed from the club, following Tuesday’s ruling that City were guilty of the majority of their 115 Premier League financial charges.

An independent commission, appointed after a four-year investigation into conduct spanning 2009 to 2018, found that City had arranged “sham contracts” with a number of commercial partners and that the club’s income over those eight seasons was “hugely overstated by over £830m.”

During that period, City won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, three League Cups and one Community Shield. Carragher stopped short of saying those honours should be redistributed to runners-up, but was unequivocal that the club should no longer hold them on their record.

“I do think Manchester City’s titles they’ve won in this time, or trophies, should be taken off their list,” Carragher said. “Whether other clubs should get them is slightly different. But what Manchester City have done is, they’ve not just hurt their own players in terms of no one looks at their trophies and medals now in the same way.”

Carragher drew on his own experience as a decorated player to explain why he believes the real damage is emotional rather than material. “Those players will never get that feeling and it was robbed by Manchester City,” he said. “It’s not about medals, it’s about feelings, and that’s what Manchester City have robbed.”

He also argued that punishment should fall squarely on those at the top of the club rather than its supporters or players. “For me this is all about the owners, the people who are at the top of the club,” he said, adding that he would be “furious” if he were a City player whose career now carried the taint of the verdict.

City have strongly rejected the findings. Chief executive Ferran Soriano described the process as a “Premier League conspiracy theory” in a message to players and staff, and the club have confirmed they intend to appeal. They have until Friday 2 October to lodge that appeal.