Calls for Manchester City to be handed the 'ultimate consequences' for cheating

Manchester City have been told they should face the 'ultimate consequences' if they're found guilty of financial breaches, with financial punishment deemed too soft.

Earlier this week, City were charged with over 100 financial breaches by the Premier League and will now face an independent investigation.

Both the club's future and recent past are now being put under intense scrutiny, with the punishment, should they be found guilty not too clear.

Pep Guardiola's previous statements suggest that the two time Champions League winner will be off, if the charges against the club are proven.

The club are currently attempting to win their seventh league title since 2012 but there has been some claims they could lose the previous six, with some former Liverpool players already claiming one title win.

It would be the Reds and Manchester United who could benefit if City had their titles stripped, but it could just be a case that the Cityzens get fined instead.

Simon Jordan thinks that any financial punishment wouldn't be going far enough, especially as the owners would be able to pay it with ease.

"What we don’t want to be looking at is financial consequences, because that’s not easy for them to overcome, is it?" the former Crystal Palace owner said on talkSPORT.

"I like to think that if they’re guilty of the things they’ve been charged with, like any other football club, they get the ultimate consequences. That means points, that means the consideration of what division they play in.

"It means the whole rubicon being crossed and saying we either mean it or we don’t. We have a menu of consequences and the last thing we want to see is Manchester City getting a £50 million fine. They couldn’t care less about a £50 million fine.

"I’m talking about the consequences of their behaviour over a 10-year period. If they’re found guilty of 10 years’ worth of financial misrepresentation, what do you think that looks like? What do you think it means."

City lift the trophy at the end of last season. Image: Alamy

Jordan isn't the only pundit who has called for a strict punishment, with ex Liverpool striker Stan Collymore also claiming City should face the ultimate 'embarrassment' of having their titles stripped.

It's not often that a team in any league does enough to have a title taken away from them, with Juventus having two of them stripped following the Calciopoli scandal but in rugby union Saracens got to keep theirs after financial rule breaches, but they were relegated.

Things could, in theory, be even worse for City if the league went down the same route as Saracens, as relegation could see them dropped from the football league altogether.

There's no guarantee that the EFL would accept the Premier League champions into the Championship, as they'd have to shuffle their own logistics to make room.