Jamie Carragher is the first high-profile pundit to put the ownership itself in the firing line.
Writing in his Telegraph column, the Liverpool legend and Sky Sports analyst said Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group should step aside, arguing that nothing short of a sale can repair the damage after Wednesday’s ruling.
“Manchester City are at the beginning of the end of their Abu Dhabi era,” Carragher wrote.
“The club can only heal and recover from the shame of its guilt once the custodians recognise they have failed in their duty and sell up.”
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‘Shameless defiance’ after the verdict
An independent commission found City guilty of 114 of the 115 charges relating to Premier League financial rule breaches between 2009/10 and 2017/18, concluding the club used “sham” commercial deals to inflate revenue and conceal costs. City have insisted they will appeal, with the deadline to lodge a challenge falling on Friday, 2 October, and face a separate hearing on sanctions that could stretch to a points deduction or worse.
It is the club’s reaction that Carragher cannot stomach.
“City are in denial, refusing to acknowledge their reputation is shattered after being found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges,” he wrote.
“The shameless defiance following a damning verdict was only marginally less shocking than the Premier League statement.”
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Carragher argued that the people responsible inside the club cannot stay in post.
“There is no way to sugar-coat this. The scale of the institutional cheating and lack of co-operation in the investigation means the position of all City executives involved is untenable,” he wrote, in comments carried by PA.
Carragher wants the titles stripped
On Sky Sports, Carragher also pressed for the sporting record to be rewritten.
“I do think Manchester City’s titles they’ve won in this time, or trophies, should be taken off their list,” he said.
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“I don’t know how the owners can continue in English football.”
He said he had spoken to current and former City players who told him senior executives had repeatedly assured them none of the allegations would stick, a line Carragher called gaslighting.
“I’d be furious and I actually feel for the Man City players,” he said.
A sharper line than any other pundit
Pep Guardiola broke his silence on social media on Wednesday afternoon with a message of loyalty to the people Carragher wants out.
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“I want every single @ManCity fan to know I am here; more than ever. I am, always have been, always will, be behind my club, my owner, my chairman, Ferran, the players, staff, Enzo and you, our unique supporters,” the City manager wrote.
“Let me be clear: we will get through this together.”
Carragher’s column takes the opposite view: no show of unity will restore the club’s standing while the current custodians remain. He wrote that fighting on would only prolong the agony of supporters who wrongly believe their pleas of innocence.
City have until Friday to decide whether to appeal.
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