A group of Premier League legends have levelled sharp criticism at Manchester City, following the club’s conviction on 114 of the 115 charges brought against it by the Premier League, while some former players have called for titles to be stripped from the team, and Darren Bent called for the club to be relegated several divisions.
City’s punishment remains unknown. The club are preparing to appeal the ruling, according to the Spanish newspaper “Sport”.
Reports from England suggest the club could face a severe penalty, though its nature is still undecided.
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The scenarios on the table range from docking points off City’s tally this season to deducting points retroactively from previous campaigns, which could strip them of some of the titles they won during the period covered by the charges.
David de Gea, the former Manchester United and current Fiorentina goalkeeper, was among the first to comment, writing on his social media accounts: “Okay… let’s talk. So how many Premier League titles have I won?”.
Ferdinand’s mockery
Rio Ferdinand, the former Manchester United defender and one of the club’s legends, took the same approach, writing on “X” to demand a new title for his cabinet: “Another Premier League medal to add to the cabinet”.
He did not stop there. Ferdinand also called for a medal to be awarded to José Mourinho, and another to Ole Gunnar Solskjær, then posted an AI-generated image showing him wearing 7 medals.
His most notable tweet came when he called for Ryan Giggs to be awarded an additional title, writing: “Now seriously… Ryan Giggs should have 14 Premier League titles. Come on, Premier League!”.
Manchester United would be among the most prominent clubs to benefit should City be stripped of titles, as they could be credited with two more: the 2011-2012 and 2017-2018 Premier Leagues.
The 2013-2014 title could go to Liverpool, prompting the Spaniard José Enrique, in Liverpool’s ranks that season, to mock the matter in the same vein as Ferdinand and de Gea, writing: “Here it comes! Thank you, Premier League, and send me the medal quickly too”.
The fourth tier!
The sharpest stance came from Darren Bent, the former Tottenham, Sunderland, Ipswich and Aston Villa striker, who demanded a severe punishment for Manchester City.
Bent said: “If we look at what happened to Juventus, and if we look at what happened to Rangers, how many divisions did they drop? 4 divisions?”.
The former England man added, in comments to “talkSPORT”: “They should be relegated. They should be sent down to League Two (the fourth tier) and punished with a transfer ban for 5 or 6 years. That’s the situation. The Championship (the second tier) is not enough”.
