Steven Gerrard has called for Manchester City to face a long-term sporting penalty over the Premier League’s financial-rule case, arguing that the club’s historical achievements should be stripped or permanently marked if the allegations are established.

The former Liverpool captain drew a distinction between the institution and the players who represented it. He said he would not want a retrospective Premier League winners’ medal or an individual player to return honours, saying: “I wouldn’t want individual players to give stuff back. I don’t think that would be right.”¹

His central argument is that any sanction should leave a clear record of the case’s consequences. Gerrard said the club “have to be stripped” and that, at minimum, there should be “an asterisk throughout all the years and their achievements.”¹ He linked that view to teams and supporters who, in his assessment, may have missed opportunities during the period under scrutiny.

On future punishment, Gerrard favours sustained Premier League sanctions rather than relegation. He argued that dropping City into the Championship would also affect clubs in that division, and proposed a multi-year combination of transfer restrictions and points deductions: “make them suffer like they’ve made everyone suffer.”²

The two accounts present the same broad position—Gerrard wants a severe, club-focused response—but place different emphasis on its rationale. One focuses on whether a retrospective marker would taint City’s record; the other compares the desired response with sanctions previously imposed on Everton and Nottingham Forest. Manchester City deny the charges, and the process remains unresolved.²