Jamie Carragher, the former Liverpool defender turned Sky Sports pundit, has voiced a strong opinion that Manchester City should have all the trophies they secured during the period in which they were found guilty of serious financial rule violations stripped from their record. He also argued that the club's owners ought to be ousted from their positions of authority. An independent commission recently concluded that City had breached Premier League financial regulations in every charge brought against them. Despite the verdict, the club continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Chief executive Ferran Soriano dismissed the investigation as a "Premier League conspiracy theory" in a video addressed to players and staff, and the organization has announced its intention to appeal the decision before the deadline of Friday, October 2. Between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons, Manchester City amassed a remarkable haul of silverware: three Premier League crowns, one FA Cup, three League Cups and a Community Shield.
Carragher believes that these achievements should be removed from the club's official tally. "I do think Manchester City's titles they've won in this time, or trophies, should be taken off their list," he told Sky Sports.
He stopped short of saying the honours should automatically be handed to the runners‑up in those competitions, noting that the emotional impact of winning is what has been robbed from the players, clubs and supporters involved. "Whether other clubs should get them is slightly different," Carragher explained.
"But what Manchester City have done is, they've not just hurt their own players in terms of no one looks at their trophies and medals now in the same way..." Carragher reflected on his own experience of winning medals, saying that the physical object matters far less than the feeling it represents. "I've been very lucky to win a few medals. I never look at the medal years later.
But my mind goes back to a moment, I get a feeling in my stomach. I remember the referee blowing a final whistle of a big game.
Those players will never get that feeling and it was robbed by Manchester City. That's what they haven't got.
I don't think any player will care if you go and give them a medal, and he puts it in the house, in his trophy room, he'll never look at it. It's not about medals, it's about feelings, and that's what Manchester City have robbed." Beyond the loss of trophies, Carragher insists the owners must face consequences for their role in the scandal.
"The club are going to get punished," he said. "You've got supporters, players, the club and owners. For me this is all about the owners, the people who are at the top of the club." He praised Manchester City as a historic institution, noting its century‑long presence in English football, but questioned how the current owners could remain involved after the revelations. "We talk about a fit and proper test for owners.
What they've done for 10 years – and left this stain that will be there for the next 10 years – it starts because they don't like the word no. When you see the statements – the one from [CEO Ferran] Soriano last night – it's beggars belief what you're hearing. They have so much power and finance behind them, nobody ever tells them no.
Until they move away from the club, I don't know how this stain is removed from the club." Carragher acknowledged that City will likely rebuild and continue to field strong squads, but he doubted the longevity of the current ownership. "City will move on – they will have great teams in the future. But I don't see how the ownership can continue after what's happened here and their reaction to it. How can they be surprised?
They've got irrefutable evidence – well where is it? Put it out there." He expressed both shock and a sense of inevitability, noting two simple reasons he had long suspected the club of wrongdoing. First, the scale of commercial revenue City claimed to generate seemed implausible when compared with clubs like Liverpool, Manchester United or Real Madrid.
Second, the club's repeated insistence that they had "irrefutable evidence" of innocence, despite years of investigations, appeared disingenuous. "It would be impossible for Man City ever to have the commercial revenue of Liverpool, Man Utd or Real Madrid. They said for years they had that type of income coming in. It's impossible for that to ever happen, no matter how successful Man City are," he argued.
"And number two, as they said yesterday and have continually said over this period, 'they've done nothing wrong, they have irrefutable evidence'. Every man and his dog knows if you're charged by the police and had irrefutable evidence it would be over in a day or a week – this has dragged on for years.
This idea that nothing has gone on and it has dragged on this long tells you something was there." Carragher praised the Premier League for securing a decisive verdict, noting that the governing body had to prove 114 out of 115 charges to make the case convincing. "A huge well done to the Premier League for the result it seems they have right now. For the Premier League to not just win this case but people talk about 114 charges out of 115 – they had to win it like that for it to be convincing," he said. When asked about the impact on the legacy of the club's most celebrated players, Carragher expressed empathy for both current squad members and former stars who may now find their achievements tainted.
He cited Kevin De Bruyne as an example of a world‑class talent whose reputation could be marred by the scandal. "I think of Kevin De Bruyne, who's one of the greatest players I've ever seen.
He could have played for any team in the world and he still would have been one of the best players. He was fantastic. But he chose his club to be Manchester City.
Now, one of those reasons he may have chosen, maybe was his wages, that maybe were inflated because of the situation around Man City and what they've been charged with." Carragher warned that if De Bruyne's decade‑long tenure at City is forever labeled a "sham" by the Premier League, it would be a personal blow to the player. "But if he sits there at the end of his career now and the whole world looks at his Manchester City career of 10 years of service and look at it as a sham, and I keep using that word, that's the word the Premier League used, I'd be furious. Absolutely furious that around the world people are looking at my career like that because of what's going on upstairs," he said. He also highlighted the mixed messages players receive from the club hierarchy, describing recent statements as "gaslighting" that attempt to reassure current and former players while the reality remains contentious.
"They've got such strong relationships with them, they want to believe it right now. I think the longer this goes on, the more you'll see less support from maybe ex‑City players and more frustration about maybe how their careers are going to be viewed by the outside world," Carragher concluded. In summary, Carragher's stance is clear: Manchester City should be stripped of the honours won during the period of financial misconduct, and the owners who oversaw that era must be held accountable, potentially through removal from their roles. The debate now shifts to how the football community will enforce these sanctions and whether the legacy of the club's players will endure the stain of the scandal.