Manchester United legend Roy Keane has told Manchester City’s players to put their medals “in the bin” following the guilty FFP verdict.
On Tuesday evening, the Premier League confirmed that Man City have been found guilty on most of their FFP charges, with the club said to have produced ‘sham’ deals to save them as much as £900m.
Man City have until Friday to submit an appeal, and they have now said that they intend to challenge the initial verdict.
However, Enzo Maresca‘s side face severe sanctions if the verdict is not overturned. The potential punishments include a fine, transfer ban, points deduction, expulsion and/or being stripped of their Premier League titles.
Now, Keane and fellow pundit Ian Wright have reacted to the guilty verdict, with Man CIty players told to “stick medals in the bin”.
“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.
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“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 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.”
Keane continued: “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.”
“I feel like an unprecedented punishment is required…”
Wright also argued that Man City have been “cheating on an industrial scale” and need to be given an “unprecedented punishment”.
“It’s cheating on an industrial scale,” Wright said.
“It’s quite surreal seeing it written down like that. You can’t mention City without mentioning what’s going on because they were so great. I feel like an unprecedented punishment is required here.”
Keane added: “It’s very damaging for the League.
“The brand of the Premier League is huge all over the world and it’s been fantastic but for them to be caught cheating then they, obviously, deserve that punishment.
“It’s bittersweet. It’s a good day because if you’re caught cheating in this game then you deserve to be punished but it’s not good for the league.”
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