Steven Gerrard wants Manchester City hammered. The former Liverpool captain has called for strict sanctions over the financial breaches alleged against the club in the Premier League, proposing a ban of several years, a block on signings and points deductions across a specified period, rather than simply relegation to the First Division or the stripping of previous titles.
Gerrard, speaking on "Overlap Daily", stressed the need for deterrent measures to protect the integrity of the competition and the reputation of the English league. Debate over City's potential punishment rumbles on, with the club denying the charges against them.
For Gerrard, the case cuts close. He played for Liverpool between 1998 and 2015 and lost out in the Premier League title race in the 2013-2014 season, when Manchester City were crowned champions, his side's collapse forever tied to that famous slip against Chelsea in the closing stretch of the campaign.
Even so, the former Liverpool captain insisted he has no desire to reclaim the league title or pick up a medal retrospectively. He has accepted that he never won the championship in his career, and he moved on long ago from what happened at the end of that season.
Relegation alone wouldn't cut it, according to Gerrard, who argued that City could quickly climb back into contention and that their presence in the First Division would skew the fairness of the promotion race.
He added that the punishment should match the scale of the breaches attributed to the club and the period during which they are suspected of having been committed.
Any sanctions, Gerrard explained, should include a transfer ban and points deductions over a specified period of time. Dealing decisively with the case is essential to stop such breaches being repeated and to send a clear message to every other club that the financial rules apply to everyone.
The former Liverpool star finished by insisting the interests of football demand the case be settled as quickly as possible, with deterrent sanctions imposed to preserve the credibility of the Premier League. Had Liverpool been a party to the case, he admitted, he might have taken a different position given his allegiance to the club. Protecting the competition's reputation, he believes, must come first.