Gary Lineker urges Manchester City to ‘own it’ and accept punishment

City have been accused of breaking financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18. An independent commission concluded that more than £830million of owner funding was used to inflate revenues and enable the club to comply with Premier League and UEFA regulations through a series of “sham” arrangements. The club have protested their innocence and appealed.

“Obviously, it looks really bad for Manchester City, and bad for the game, too,” former England captain Lineker said.

“When they talk about the ‘Premier League conspiracy theories’, you just think to yourself, ‘Well, this is actually the last thing in the world that the Premier League would want’.

“So, I’d love to see Man City now just own it and just say, ‘OK, we got it wrong but for the good of the game, we’ll accept it and we’ll accept whatever punishment comes our way and we’ll carry on’.

“That would be a blessing and save their face a little bit at the moment, although it doesn’t look likely.”

Pressed as to whether City should be stripped of the three league titles they won during that period, 65-year-old Lineker, who was speaking at a Leaders Week conference at Stamford Bridge, said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes down that route. But who suffers from that? The players and the fans.”

Kyle Walker, who spent eight years at City – winning the Champions League as well as 12 major domestic honours – before his departure in 2025, said the players will always have the memories of their achievements “whatever happens”.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Burnley right-back Walker said: “Obviously it doesn’t look great. I know it’s in an appeal stage so, for me to start commenting on the legal action and everything like that, probably it’s not going to do myself justice or anyone involved in it.

“But, at a personal level, I can say the lads, we spent many and many a great year celebrating many trophies and that’s something that, whatever happens, they can’t take away from us because we’ve experienced them nights.”

Walker admitted it is not an easy subject for former City players to discuss.

The 36-year-old added: “It’s something that we probably don’t want to talk about because we want to be looked upon as winning them trophies and winning them the right way.

“It’s very difficult because we’ve worked very hard for them, and not just us, I look at the fans that have travelled up and down the country, travelled abroad to Istanbul when we won the treble, and they deserve that night as well.”

A City statement released last Friday read: “The club’s firm position is that, on multiple grounds, the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.

“The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions relating to this case.”

Former City boss Pep Guardiola, who has publicly iterated his support of the club after the verdict was announced, will reportedly attend the City’s Champions League game with Paris St Germain next week.