Manchester City should be stripped of the titles won during the period where they have been found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules, Jamie Carragher said
City were found to have engaged in an almost £1 billion scheme to either inflate revenues or reduce costs through a series of "sham" arrangements in order to avoid breaching league and UEFA financial regulations.
The eight-time Premier League champions face severe sanctions, although City remain defiant and immediately declared their intention to appeal.
"I feel for the players... they'll almost feel like a lot of their career is going to have an asterisk, or a lot of people will be calling it a sham," Carragher said on Sky Sports News.
"The players were told everything was fine, they would never get done for anything. What the hierarchy are coming out with now, they're just gaslighting.
Jamie Carragher thinks Manchester City should lose the titles won during the period they were found guilty of breaching rules. PETER POWELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images "I think the titles should be taken off their [City's] list. Whether other clubs get them is probably slightly different. City have not just hurt their own players.
"I don't look at it [a medal] years later, but my mind goes back to moments and feelings in my stomach. Those players will never get that feeling and it was robbed by Man City. No-one remembers the medal. Giving trophies or medals back, it doesn't mean anything. It's not about medals, it's about feelings."
City's next match comes in the Premier League on Oct. 11 against Liverpool, the club that have been their biggest rival across the last decade.
"Liverpool are probably the biggest losers in all this," Carragher added. "The atmosphere will be electric. In the last five years, Liverpool vs. Manchester City has been 'the' game of the Premier League."
Ex-City defender Micah Richards said on The Rest Is Football podcast: "The reports were troubling. I saw the words which were used by the Premier League in sham contracts and I felt absolutely devastated.
"I've been at that club since I was 14 years old, I would die for that club. I achieved my dream at Manchester City, but then to hear these reports, and not only me as an ex-player, but the fans, what they have to go through, absolutely devastating."
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