Roy Keane has blasted Manchester City’s owners for ‘cheating’ and says players who won medals at the club should throw them ‘in the bin’ after the Premier League’s guilty verdict.
The Premier League said in a statement on Tuesday that Man City had been found guilty of all charges related to ‘serious breaches’ of financial rules. An independent commission found that Manchester City, the dominant force in English football over the past decade, arranged ‘shame contracts’ with several commercial partners to disguise funding of more than £800m.
In doing so, Man City artificially inflated the club’s revenues and reduced its costs in the period between 2009 and 2018. The club still maintain their innocence and have until October 2 to submit an appeal.
Keane’s reaction
Ex-Manchester United captain Keane says the Manchester City owners have ‘hurt a lot of people’ through years of ‘cheating’ and says medal winners at the club should chuck them away.
‘Well, do you know what? They [the Man City owners] knew it would hurt a lot of people but they still did it,’ Keane said on ITV after England’s Nations League win over Czech Republic.
‘If I was a player who had some success during that time, I would 100% be sticking those medals in the bin. You’d feel so let down by the club, it’s cheating.
‘It’s nonsense to say they won it on the pitch, they were cheating. There was cheating going on.’
Ian Wright’s comments
Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright added: ‘They’ve kept telling the fans and the players that nothing has gone on and now they’ve been found guilty of all these charges. It’s just not right.
‘It’s sad for everyone but in respects of the owners and what they’ve done, it’s just terrible.’
Manchester City are currently top of the Premier League under Pep Guardiola’s replacement Enzo Maresca and face Liverpool in their first game back following the international break.
Impact on the squad
On what the next few weeks hold for the Man City squad, Keane added: ‘It’s tough for the current players and the manager because they would have trusted the owners who were quite happy cheating.
‘It’s going to very difficult going forward for these players to maintain that professionalism and excellence.’
In the Premier League’s statement confirming Man City’s guilty verdict, chief executive Richard Masters said: ‘The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period.
‘It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade. It also vindicates the Premier League’s decision to pursue this case against Manchester City.
‘While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the League has remained determined that the facts be established independently.
‘It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition.
‘It is paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.’
The Premier League also said a hearing to decide Man City’s sanction will be addressed in the coming weeks. Expulsion from the division is believed to be one possibility.
