Jason McAteer believes Manchester City should be hit with a transfer ban if found guilty of breaking Premier League spending rules.
The hearing into 115 allegations against City of breaching financial rules is on-going. Pep Guardiola ‘s champions deny any wrongdoing, but McAteer reckons docking them points or fining them would be a waste of time, should City be found to have cheated.
The former Republic of Ireland and Liverpool defender told Gambling Zone : “I think if City are found guilty, then financially, they can cope with whatever the fine is.
“They’ve got bottomless pockets of money, so that’s not really going to hurt them, but from a points perspective, they’re going to have to set an example. Even if the league took 40 points off them, they’d still probably finish in the Europa League.
“A transfer embargo for two or three seasons could be another way of looking at it. I don’t think City will get relegated if they’re found guilty. I think the Premier League needs them. I think the government needs them. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
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McAteer believes it would be hard for his old club to take if City are held accountable, considering Liverpool have pushed them close in recent title races. He added: “As a Liverpool fan, if City are found guilty, of course it will disappoint me.
“Whether you want to use the word cheated, or whether you want to say they bent the rules by having really good accountants, it’s still not right. Cheating is a very, very strong word, but if that’s what they get caught doing, then of course (I’ll be disappointed).
“The Liverpool players put so much into their tussles with City over a four-year period.
“To find out that a team has bent the rules so significantly to gain such a significant advantage – Liverpool lost two potential titles by a single point – and has dominated British football for the last five, six, seven years, then, it would really, really disappoint me.”