Jamie Carragher, the Liverpool legend, has called for a tougher punishment to be imposed on Manchester City, as well as the immediate departure of the club's owners.
According to "The Sun", Carragher wants Manchester City's owners forced out and the club punished for up to five years.
A one-season ban would not be enough, the Liverpool legend believes, in the wake of the shocking ruling against the English giants.
An independent commission found Manchester City guilty of wide-ranging breaches of financial rules over nine years. The commission concluded that the club concealed more than £830 million in funding through "fictitious" sponsorship arrangements between 2009 and 2018.
Manchester City strongly deny any wrongdoing and have lodged an appeal against the ruling. No punishment will be imposed until that process is concluded, with a range of potential sanctions available.
Any final punishment should extend over several seasons, Carragher believes, rather than merely hitting City with a one-off huge points deduction.
Speaking on "The Overlap Fan Debate", presented by "Sky Bet", he said: "I think if people talk about an 80-point deduction or a 100-point deduction, that only means more than one season gets you relegated and then you come back up again".
Some players will leave
He continued: "And I think some players will leave, but I think some will say: I can handle that for a year. It also builds a relationship with the fans, and it would be viewed very positively".
He went on: "But I think this needs to go on for a long time. I think the punishment should be over several years, from three to five years, and then the players will move on to another stage".
How would City keep their biggest stars if the punishment savaged the club's income? Carragher questioned exactly that.
He added: "But then there's the financial side, how can they afford these players' wages if they don't have Premier League money?".
He added: "If they have to pay all that money, and you can only spend the money they earn, then they will have to abide by that now".
Next, Carragher turned his fire on Manchester City's management, including the owner Sheikh Mansour and the chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
The former England defender questioned how fans and players could trust those running the club if the guilty verdict against City is upheld despite the appeal.
He said: "I didn't know how the owners could carry on. How can you trust them if they are found guilty of this?"
He added: "The problem lies in my worry that it won't be like this: if they lose the appeal, OK, yes, we'll move on, we'll accept our punishment".
He went on: "They will never admit they were wrong on this, and they will always say we were wronged, that this was a farce, whether from the Premier League itself or from various people".
He continued: "And I think they will keep stalling, and I think that will drag the game down to the gutter".
He went on: "It almost needs to be resolved for the good of the game, but also for the good of Manchester City and its fans to move past this stage, and I don't think they will ever be able to move past it with these people."
The reputation of Manchester City's brilliant players
Yet the financial scandal should not be allowed to destroy the reputation of the brilliant players who delivered the club's success on the pitch, Carragher insisted.
He said: "I've always felt they were guilty, they manipulated the records, they cheated, the titles should be stripped from them, but when I think about it the way I do, I can't change my view of the individual players".
Carragher explained: "If I were in the position of Kevin De Bruyne or David Silva or Vincent Kompany, I would be very angry at the club because people would be having these conversations".
He added: "I don't necessarily agree with that because I'm looking at an individual player, I still think of Kevin De Bruyne striking those balls with his right foot, and I think that has nothing to do with the owner".
City's management, for their part, have insisted on their innocence throughout and are now fighting to overturn the commission's findings. Carragher admitted he understands why many City fans continue to support the people who turned their club into a dominant force.
He said: "I feel sorry for them because they are people who completely transformed their football club in terms of what they see on the pitch, and winning titles".
He continued: "These are like powerful major rulers from a nation state, and they say: 'We are determined, I'm telling you, they are wrong on this'."
He went on: "It's like, you know, these important people, these people, these fans perhaps look up to them with admiration and adore them intensely, because of what they gave to their football club. They are very far ahead on this."
Carragher concluded: "I almost feel, in some ways, that it is very difficult for City fans not to say that, and to hold on to it for as long as possible."