Walker insists City's trophies cannot be erased despite £830m charges verdict

Kyle Walker has insisted that Manchester City’s trophy haul cannot be stripped from the players who won them, after an independent commission found the club used more than £830 million of owner funding to inflate revenues and circumvent Premier League and UEFA financial rules through a series of “sham” arrangements spanning nine years.

City have appealed the decision, and Walker — who won the Champions League and 12 domestic trophies during his eight years at the Etihad between 2017 and 2025 — was measured in how far he was willing to go when addressing the verdict publicly.

“Obviously it doesn’t look great. I know it’s in an appeal stage so, for me to start commenting on the legal action and everything like that, probably it’s not going to do myself justice or anyone involved in it,” Walker said. “But, at a personal level, I can say the lads, we spent many and many a great year celebrating many trophies and everything like that and that’s something that, whatever happens, they can’t take away from us because we’ve experienced them nights.”

The former England captain left City under difficult circumstances, joining AC Milan on loan during a troubled 2024-25 campaign before subsequently moving to Burnley, who were relegated from the Championship last season.

Walker acknowledged the sensitivity of the subject for former City players, saying they were reluctant to engage with it given how hard they had worked for their success. “It’s very difficult because we’ve worked very hard for them, and not just us — I look at the fans as well,” he said. “I look at the fans that have travelled up and down the country, travelled abroad to Istanbul when we won the treble and stuff like that, and they deserve that night as well.”

City’s appeal against the commission’s findings is ongoing, with the final outcome likely to carry significant implications for the club’s standing in both domestic and European competition.