Wayne Rooney rejects retrospective medal and urges Manchester City relegation after guilty verdict

Wayne Rooney says Manchester City should keep their past titles and argues the club should face severe relegation following a landmark financial verdict.

"I wouldn’t feel comfortable about accepting another Premier League medal if I’m being honest, because I don’t think we deserve it. We didn’t do enough that season to win the league. I’m thinking as their players, they’re doing everything they can to win the Premier League title and in their minds they’ve done it. And if that happened to me, if all of a sudden Manchester United have been doing the same and I’m getting my Premier League medals taken away from me, I’d be absolutely devastated." He was speaking on the Stick to United podcast.

The former Manchester United forward, a runner-up on goal difference in 2011-12, does not want a championship handed out in a boardroom and expressed sympathy for players who won on the pitch.

An independent commission found City guilty of serious financial breaches between 2009-10 and 2017-18. Its ruling detailed sham contracts and a disguised funding scheme through Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG) that allegedly funnelled more than £900 million, and said the club worked to frustrate a four-year investigation and to circumvent spending limits set by the League and UEFA.

"I’d put them in the lowest league they can go in and then put restrictions on them in terms of how much money they can spend for the next three or four seasons," he added.

City vigorously deny the accusations and plan to appeal the ruling. A private hearing will decide the exact sanctions, a process expected to dominate English football in the coming months.

Source: Goal.com

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