Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City should face sanctions lasting between three and five years if their appeal against the Premier League’s financial verdict is unsuccessful.
An independent commission found City guilty of breaching the league’s financial rules, ruling that they inflated their revenue by more than £830 million across nine seasons between 2009-10 and 2017-18.
No final punishment has been imposed while the appeal process remains ongoing, but Carragher believes a one-season points deduction would not provide a sufficient deterrent if the verdict is upheld.
Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, the former Liverpool defender argued that any sanction should instead affect City across multiple campaigns.
“If the people talk about [a penalty of] 80 points or 100 points, but that’s just over one season that gets you relegated and then you come back again,” Carragher said.
“And I think players, a few of them would leave, but I think some of them would say, ‘I could put up with that for a year.’
“But I think, because this has gone on for so long, I do think the punishment should be over a number of years, three to five years, and then players would move on.”
City await outcome of appeal
Carragher’s proposal would potentially have a far greater long-term impact on City’s squad than a punishment confined to a single campaign.
An 80 or 100-point deduction would almost certainly leave a club facing relegation, but Carragher believes City’s resources could allow them to retain much of their squad and quickly return to the Premier League.
A sanction spread across several seasons, he argues, could make it considerably more difficult to convince leading players to remain at the Etihad.
The controversy surrounding City will provide the backdrop to their return to Premier League action against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
The two clubs have been major rivals for domestic honours over recent years and City can expect a difficult reception on Merseyside following the financial verdict.
Former City defender and manager Stuart Pearce believes Enzo Maresca must use the increased hostility as motivation for his players.
“The opposition, they’ll be rolling their sleeves up,” Pearce said. “The atmosphere in the stadiums is going to be red hot. It’s unbelievable it happens to be Liverpool this weekend. It’s going to be electric.
“So it’s going to stimulate everybody else against City, and it’s got to stimulate City against everyone else.”
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