Gerrard rejects medal and calls for City sanctions

Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard said he would refuse a retrospective Premier League winners medal if Manchester City were stripped of titles, and called for significant, multi-season sanctions against the club if its appeal fails. Gerrard’s comments concern findings by an independent commission that City breached Premier League financial regulations. City have appealed the findings and maintain their innocence, according to reporting on the case. No final outcome of the appeal or resulting sanctions is established in the supplied information. Speaking on The Overlap, Gerrard said he had come to terms with never winning the league and did not want a medal awarded after the fact. He said City’s players had experienced their victories and that he did not want individual players to return anything to him. Gerrard said City should be stripped of titles or have asterisks placed beside their achievements. He described an asterisk as a minimum in his opinion, saying it would mark the circumstances surrounding the club’s honours whether or not titles were formally removed. He also advocated a transfer ban and points deductions spread over multiple seasons.