29 Sep 2026 16:29:03
If the cheats get the titles stripped from them, do the players hand back the medals? Also if they allowed to keep them, will they become more valuable for being tarnished?
29 Sep 2026 16:54:14
Personally, I don't think they should be stripped of the titles and I think it won't go that far anyways. At the end of the day, they competed for those title on the pitch. Unfair advantage or not, they earned the right to be champions by beating their opponent.
Don't get me wrong, they cheated and had officials on their side for some reason but in the end, they fought to win games. If they were to be stripped, I don't want anything to do with the title at all. Btw, I don't think the players should feel anything less than champions, they earned it.
29 Sep 2026 17:18:06
I simply don't get the "those titles were earned on the pitch" rhetoric. I'm hearing it a lot. What am I missing?
The whole point is that Manchester City were the best team because they had the best players and ridiculous squad depth. The only reason that was possible was because of the financial cheating, which based on the statement just released by the Premier League was on an insane scale.
As far as I'm concerned everything they have "won" since the cheating started should be erased, right up to now - not just the period that has been under investigation. No titles, no centurions, no Champions League, no FA Cups and League cups, no four consecutive titles. Void the player of the year and manager of the year awards as well. I'd even want to see an asterisk against Aguero, Haaland and anyone else from City in the all time scorers list.
You can't simply ignore the significance of the financial cheating in enabling all of those "achievements".
29 Sep 2026 18:12:17
Take the lot off them. It was us they was cheating
Jurgan Klopp went up against a dynasty of Corruption.
Clear evidence of cheating from Man City, and clear bodies of evidence from the PGMOL certain refs were Bias against Liverpool.
{Ed666's Note - The mere mention of Klopps name makes me go warm & fuzzy and I’m like a teenager at a Justin Bieber concert. I would give my right pinkie finger for the great man to manage us for 1 more season in the future. Shankley, Paisley, Fagan, Dalglish, Rafa & Klopp what a Mount Rushmore of managers that is.
29 Sep 2026 18:28:36
Ugbes sorry mate but that's a load of rubbish. They were able to compete on the pitch because of what the did off the pitch, its absolutely blatant cheating and everything they won should be stripped, I don't want any titles handed out though. Leave them with no winner. Same as with Lance Armstrong, just strip everything. Doping, financial doping same thing, same results.
{Ed666's Note - I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want a retrospective premiership or three?
29 Sep 2026 18:39:59
That's a really strange point of view Ugbes. The fact is, as others have said, the only reason they were in a position to compete on the pitch was because they were cheating on a huge scale off it.
They simply can't keep any titles they've won since Abu Dhabi took over. It's all built on cheating and deception.
Even the team they have now has been made possible because they cheated for a decade up to 2018.
Taking Lance Armstrong as an example. It's like saying, we know you were doped up to the eyeballs with illegal, performance enhancing drugs but it was you on the bike so you can keep your Tour de France titles. Makes no sense at all.
29 Sep 2026 18:52:41
I haven't always agreed with you Rio but I certainly do on what you have said there.
29 Sep 2026 19:50:21
Don't want to be mean, but if the logic is that they competed on the field, then tie the opposition's legs together, throw them onto the field, and play a football match. Both sides would still compete! So the winners deserve credit even then!
29 Sep 2026 22:05:48
Of course the titles should be stripped.
Whether they are handed to the runners up or voided is a different question though.
I was going to make the point but another poster beat me to it that the players had to go on the field and score goals yeah but lance armstrong also had to get on his bike and pedal.
{Ed666's Note - in my mind Victor Moses is a premier league winner with Liverpool
30 Sep 2026 09:16:17
Ugbes, I couldn't give a flying fig about the whole "the players earned it on the pitch" stuff. If anything, these players should be banging on these corrupt owners demanding why they were lied to because essentially, their legacies have been destroyed due to this generational level of cheating.
Like RF said, strip them to the bare bones of everything they won and loved and send them down to Non league football for 5 years mandatory and pay a billion pounds in fines with a 5 year transfer ban. Seems fair, no?
30 Sep 2026 10:17:28
Strip all titles till the current ones.
All the cheating in the part has led to where they are now.
Plus they've made it extremely difficult for years by not cooperating with the investigation and still claiming they're not guilty.
Make an example of it and give them the highest possible punishment:
Strip titles. Huge fine. Demotion. Transfer bans. Point deduction for every year they cheated. Compensation to other teams who lost a title or cup final to them. The lot!
30 Sep 2026 12:57:29
I wouldn't include Rafa in with those boys ED0666. Just my opinion.
{Ed666's Note - I did mention Rafa mate. Would never leave him out of a list of the greats. Rafa divided opinion but for me he was as much as a warrior as Klopp was for us. He didn’t take any of fergies crap and had to fight a biased FA/Premier league as well as owners that didn’t like him.