Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has said he would want a Premier League medal if one were retrospectively awarded following Manchester City's guilty verdict, directly contradicting his former team-mate Wayne Rooney.
Manchester City were found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League earlier this week, and have since confirmed they are appealing the decision. In their statement, City continue to maintain their innocence and are denying any wrongdoing.
Scholes makes his position clear
An anxious wait now follows while the appeals process gets underway, with football already awash with discussion regarding the potential sanctions City could face. Among the punishments reportedly being considered is the removal of City's previous major trophies and their retrospective allocation to the runners-up.
United have finished as Premier League runners-up behind City on three occasions, including during the 2011/12 campaign when both Scholes and Rooney featured in Sir Alex Ferguson's squad. Scholes has now taken to social media with an expletive-laden post, making his position crystal clear should City be stripped of certain major honours.
"Keep hearing ex-team-mates saying they want trophies taking off them [City] but don't want their medals," Scholes posted on his Instagram story on Saturday. He added: "F*** that, I'm a greedy b******. I want my medal."
Rooney's contrasting stance
Scholes' perspective differs sharply from Rooney's, who explained why he would refuse to accept a winners' medal should United be retrospectively handed titles previously won by City.
"I have heard Rio [Ferdinand] has come out saying about getting another Premier League medal... I wouldn't really feel comfortable accepting another Premier League medal, if I'm being honest," Rooney said on the Stick To United podcast.
"I don't think we deserve it, we didn't do enough that season to win the league. I think we were six or seven points clear with four or five games to go and we threw it away."
"I've seen everything that has come out over the past few days and listening to people and I was putting myself in a Man City player's shoes... they're players, they're doing everything they can to try and win the Premier League title and in their mind they have done it, if those players have no understanding of what is going on above them, if that happened to me... I would be absolutely devastated."
"It might happen, they might take them [medals] away, but I wouldn't want it [a medal] because I don't think as a team we deserved it that year because obviously we didn't finish first."
"So when I see team-mates saying, 'I want a medal', I'm happy with the five I've won. I wouldn't want this one. Should they get it stripped for what the owners have done? Yeah maybe, but I wouldn't feel comfortable accepting it."
