Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City they must face sanctions of between three and five years if their appeal against the The Premier League the financial verdict is unsuccessful.
An independent commission found City guilty of breaching the league’s financial rules, ruling they inflated their revenue by more than £830m in nine seasons between 2009-10 and 2017-18.
No final punishment has been imposed while the appeal process is still ongoing, but Carragher believes a season’s points deduction would not provide a sufficient deterrent if the verdict is upheld.
Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, the first one Liverpool The defender argued that any penalty should affect the city in several campaigns.
“If people talk about (an) 80-point or 100-point penalty, but that’s little more than a season that puts you down and then you come back,” Carragher said.
“And I think the players, some of them would leave, but I think some of them would say, ‘I could take this for a year.’
“But I think because this has gone on for so long, I think the punishment should be a few years, three to five years, and then the players would move on.”
The City Council is awaiting the outcome of the appeal
Carragher’s proposal could have a far greater long-term impact on City’s squad than a punishment limited to a single campaign.
A deduction of 80 or 100 points 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 ban spread over several seasons, he argues, could make it considerably more difficult to convince top players to stay at the Etihad.
The controversy surrounding City will serve as the backdrop for their return to Premier League action against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
The two clubs have been major rivals for domestic honors in recent years and City can expect a tough 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’re going to roll up their sleeves,” Pearce said. “The atmosphere in the stadiums will be red. It’s incredible that it’s Liverpool this weekend. It’s going to be electric.
“So it will spur everybody else against City, and it has to spur City against everybody else.”
