Steven Gerrard believes Manchester City will win the Premier League this season. He also believes they should be stripped of several of the ones they already have.
The two conclusions, delivered within days of one another, land as the league waits to see how an independent commission’s guilty verdict on 114 financial charges is enforced. City have said they will appeal the ruling, which covers the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons, and in the meantime sit top of the table while sanctions are decided.
From Arsenal pick to City money
Gerrard had tipped Arsenal before a ball was kicked. Six games in, and 24 hours after watching City take Anfield apart with a 3-0 win over Liverpool, he changed his mind.
“Before a ball was kicked, I fancied Arsenal to just carry on, but now, six, seven games in… I’d put my money on Manchester City,” he told Football365.
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City lead on 18 points from six matches, three clear of Arsenal. Gerrard pointed to their response at Anfield, where they broke a goalless game open within minutes of Ryan Gravenberch’s 60th-minute red card.
‘Worst nightmare’ and the punishment he wants
What unsettles Gerrard is the timing. A guilty champion lifting another trophy while sanctions are still being argued over would, he said, be a nightmare scenario for the competition.
He has already set out what the punishment should look like, telling ESPN that relegation is the wrong lever because City “would bounce back”, and arguing instead for a slow, multi-year squeeze.
“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, ten years that they’ve done it.”
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He also wants a historical marker, suggesting an asterisk should sit next to every title City won under Abu Dhabi ownership.
No retroactive medal
Gerrard was Liverpool’s captain in 2013-14, the season City won the title the Reds had led into the final two matches. He is not asking for one of those medals back.
“I’m not someone who’s going to sit here and say I would accept a Premier League medal or I want one that they’ve got,” he said.
“I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ve never won the Premier League, that I was short in that department in terms of winning it.”
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His concern, he said, runs wider than his own trophy cabinet.
“What about the memories they’ve taken away from, not just possibly me and the team that I played in, but over that period of nine or 10 years?”
City remain unbeaten in six matches, with punishment yet to be decided while the appeal plays out.
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