Steven Gerrard has urged the Premier League to make Manchester City 'suffer' after the club was found guilty of 114 financial rule breaches. The former Liverpool midfielder has also called for City to be stripped of trophies won between 2009 and 2018, including the Premier League title they clinched ahead of Liverpool in 2014.
Gerrard's call for sanctions
City continue to deny the charges and have lodged an appeal. While Gerrard expressed sympathy for the players, he wants the club to serve as a warning to others and hopes the Premier League will show the same firmness applied when sanctioning Everton and Nottingham Forest for considerably lesser offences.
Speaking on The Overlap, Gerrard said: "In terms of how I feel, I potentially could be affected if you like, I wouldn't want individual players to give stuff back, that wouldn't be right, but the club, they have to be stripped.
"There needs to be an example set, historically whether that's a star throughout all the years of their achievements, because then it doesn't matter whether the titles are stripped or not, as soon as that star is there, then everyone knows that [success] happened because of what we all know happened."
Multi-year punishment and transfer ban
Gerrard added: "And then there needs to be a punishment moving forward, I don't know what the right one is. I don't think its fair on the Championship if they go down, because they will be one of the three teams that come up.
"So that takes a slot away from the Championship, it's not fair on the EFL or the teams playing against City week in, week out.
"I think it's more moving forward in the Premier League, to punish them over a period of time, multi-year punishment, that would be my opinion, I'm not saying that's the right opinion but that's just how I feel.
"I think it needs to be a transfer ban, a points [deduction] over a period of time and make them suffer like they've made everyone suffer over the nine, 10 years that they've done it.
"They were strong with Everton, strong with Forest punishments for breaches. Good luck to the Premier League, but they have to be strong."
City's recent form
For the time being, City continue to play in the top flight and defeated Gerrard's cherished Liverpool emphatically at the weekend. Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki all scored in their 3-0 triumph at Anfield on Sunday afternoon. Enzo Maresca's outfit will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in midweek.
