‘They cheated’: Foster calls for Man City’s titles to be stripped
Craig Foster says Manchester City must be stripped of their recent titles after being found guilty of 114 of 115 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules.
Foster, the ex-Socceroos captain, said there was no grey area in how the league should deal with the glamour club.
“Those titles must be stripped because they cheated,” Foster declared on Stan Sport’s Added Time.
Former Socceroos star Tommy Oar also expects “sweeping and damaging” punishment, but the road to any enforcement remains long with the club expected to appeal.
The charges cover nine seasons from 2009-18 and required a four-year investigation.
City won four Premier League titles during that time.
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak responded to reports of a guilty verdict with an open letter to fans, saying the club, who have always denied wrongdoing after the charges were announced in 2023, remain confident of proving their case.
“The process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began,” he wrote.
A three-person board would hear the case if City appeal after the guilty ruling by the independent judicial panel.
They cannot go to sport’s highest court, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned City’s two-year Champions League ban, imposed by UEFA for overstating sponsorship revenue between 2012-16.
But the appeal process may be a long way off given the number of charges.
It is possible that the current Premier League season, in which City lead the table after five straight wins, may end without an official verdict and punishments being announced, leaving the world’s richest league in limbo.
Even if the verdict and punishments are announced, the appeal process may delay the imposition of any sanctions while the season continues or even concludes.
But if the case is wrapped up before the end of the campaign, a large points deduction may plunge City from being a title contender into a relegation battler.
If the charges stand, the points deduction may even be big enough to make it practically impossible to avoid the drop.
But there is also the possibility that City may face an even harsher punishment, as Juventus did after a corruption case surrounding the manipulation of referee assignments that rocked Italian football two decades ago.
While many clubs faced heavy sanctions including points deductions, Juventus paid the biggest price following the ‘Calciopoli’ scandal, as they were stripped of two Serie A titles and relegated to Serie B. The 2004-05 Serie A season no longer has a champion, while the 2005-06 title was awarded to Inter Milan.
A similar retroactive change in the Premier League's championship history could affect all clubs and the credibility of the competition itself.
There may also be legal challenges from other clubs, claiming lost prize money and missed financial opportunities, if City are judged to have gained a sporting advantage from the activities they have been charged with.
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