Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard certainly has his thoughts on Manchester City's recent issues involving being found guilty of breaking financial fair play rules. Everyone has, of course, but Gerrard believes City should be stripped of its Premier League titles during the 2009-2018 period in which it was found guilty of breaking the rules.
That seems simple, but Gerrard makes it more complex. He does think the players should "give stuff back," but that the club should "be stripped" of titles. Does that make sense? Not really.
Gerrard's overall point makes sense, of course. He feels the owners of City are guilty and wants them to suffer. The problem is that in that suffering, the players would also have to be included. City can't be stripped of its titles without the players having to give their backs too.
Steven Gerrard has strong thoughts about what should happen with Manchester City
None of the ongoing fiasco, and Manchester City is appealing being found guilty, so the future is unknown, is the players' doing. Not long before, Erling Haaland and others arrived, and not since they signed. If City did something wrong, the blame belongs with the owners.
The problem is that the titles were won by the players and not the owners. What happened happened on the pitch, not in some owner's box somewhere. Maybe -- maybe -- rules were broken to acquire talent that City might not have been able to otherwise due to the restraints of the Premier League rules, but the players and managers won because they were good enough to do so.
According to what Gerrard told The Overlap (per The Independent), "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."
But stripping the club is also stripping the players. Players can't keep titles if the club can't keep them.
Of course, one does not know exactly what the punishment will be, assuming the guilty verdict isn't upheld after a ruling on Manchester City's appeal. Maybe the charges hold, but then once the punishment is handed out, Man City can also appeal that. The entire process could take years, not months.
This is why what Steven Gerrard said is so complicated. He isn't wrong in his observation, assuming City is found guilty after the appeal. If the club is found not to be guilty, what Gerrard said is irrelevant. Ultimately, though, players won't suffer. They know what they earned because they did it on the pitch. If the club is found guilty, the great memories of the players remain.
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