Wayne Rooney makes shock claim as Manchester United legends speak on getting Man City titles

Not all the Manchester United legends are in agreement over a potential punishment for Man City

Manchester United players, of the past, have been discussing the idea of Manchester City being stripped of their trophies, to varying outcomes.

On Tuesday (September 29) it was revealed that Man City had been found guilty of all but one of the 115 charges against them relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations.

An independent commission found that Man City artificially inflated their revenue and cut costs by more than £900million over a nine-year period between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

During that nine-year period, Man City were crowned Premier League champions on three separate occasions, famously pipping United to the 2011-12 title on goal difference on the final day of the season - thanks to Sergio Aguero’s iconic stoppage time winning goal against Queens Park Rangers.

Then six years later, Man United finished runners-up to a Man City side that became the first team in Premier League history to reach a century of points.

The scenario of Man City being retrospectively stripped of their Premier League trophies from the aforementioned period has certainly caught the attention of many former Man United players.

Some of whom would be entitled to at least one more Premier League winner’s medal - though not all would welcome that idea.

Rio Ferdinand

In response to a message on social media, Rio Ferdinand wrote: "Another Premier League medal to be added to the cabinet."

Before adding: "And another for Jose [Mourinho]…."

Ferdinand also suggested Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be due another Premier League medal, but the aforementioned period does not cover the 2020-21 season.

Ultimately, the former defender finished up his campaign with an AI photo of seven Premier League winner’s medals.

Roy Keane

Former Man United captain Roy Keane would not be eligible for any Premier League winner’s medals, but has said the trophies Man City won during the nine-year period are now redundant.

“They knew it would hurt a lot of people, but they’ve still done it, and, if I was a player, I’d be 100 per cent sticking those medals in the bin,” he said on ITV.

“It’s cheating. You’re hearing nonsense about some ex-players saying, ‘Oh well, they won on the pitch’. Because it was cheating! It was cheating going on.”

David de Gea

The Spaniard is really pushing the idea of getting his hands on two more Premier League winner’s medals for the 2011-12 and 2017-18 seasons.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney, on the other hand, has somewhat surprisingly said he does not agree with Ferdinand or De Gea as he “would not feel comfortable accepting another Premier League medal”.

“I have heard Rio has come out saying about getting another Premier League medal... I wouldn’t really feel comfortable accepting another Premier League medal, if I’m being honest,” said Rooney on the Stick To United podcast.

“I don’t think we deserve it, we didn’t do enough that season to win the league. I think we were six or seven points clear with four or five games to go and we threw it away.

“I’ve seen everything that has come out over the past few days and listening to people and I was putting myself in a Man City player’s shoes.

Man City won the 2011-12 Premier League title in dramatic fashion

AFP/Getty

“They’re players, they’re doing everything they can to try and win the Premier League title and in their mind they have done it, if those players have no understanding of what is going on above them, if that happened to me... I would be absolutely devastated.

“It might happen, they might take them [medals] away, but I wouldn’t want it [a medal] because I don’t think as a team we deserved it that year because obviously we didn’t finish first. So when I see team-mates saying I want a medal’, I’m happy with the five I’ve won. I wouldn’t want this one.

“Should they get it stripped for what the owners have done? Yeah maybe, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable accepting it.”