Report: Why Liverpool fans hoping for retrospective PL title wins are likely to be disappointed

Any Liverpool fans hoping for their club to be retrospectively awarded Premier League titles in the wake of Manchester City being found guilty of 114 breaches of financial regulations are likely to be left disappointed.

On Friday, the world of football was rocked by the news of the guilty verdict against the Etihad Stadium outfit for breaching a series of financial rules between 2009 and 2018, with thoughts immediately turning to how the club might be sanctioned.

The Reds have finished second to Man City in the top flight on three occasions since Sheikh Mansour’s takeover of the latter in 2008, although only one of those (2013/14) came during the period to which the charges apply.

Liverpool unlikely to be awarded an extra league title

While there’s a giddiness among some Liverpool fans on social media over a potential awarding of silverware to the Reds, if Man City are to be stripped of the trophies they won in the relevant time period, that course of action isn’t likely to materialise.

Oliver Kay reported for The Athletic: ‘Few people in Premier League circles are expecting title successes to be stripped and redistributed. The suggestion all along has been that, if City were found guilty – let alone on this scale – sanctions were likely to be forward-looking rather than historic.’

That was corroborated by Matt Lawton and Martyn Ziegler for The Times, who wrote: ‘The possible sanctions could be as harsh as being expelled from the Premier League. Lesser punishments include relegation or heavy points deductions, and the sporting sanctions can also be accompanied by large fines.

‘There is the possibility of stripping Premier League titles from the club too, for seasons in which rules were breached, but that is thought to be unlikely.’

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Any retrospective Liverpool title win would feel hollow

With Man City expected to appeal yesterday’s verdict (The Athletic), it could be some time yet before this seismic soap opera reaches an absolute conclusion.

While some Liverpool fans will argue that the Premier League title of 2013/14 should rightly be theirs, others may feel that a retrospective awarding of silverware would be a hollow victory, coming without the sense of euphoria which greets such a major triumph on the pitch.

It seems as though any such moral debate would be moot, with City unlikely to have their 2009-2018 trophies taken off them and instead be sanctioned in the form of demotion or a significant points deduction.

The whole affair is a stain on football and highlights the importance of clubs being run in a manner which is above board and complicit with the financial regulations which are in place.

For Liverpool fans, the bigger question mightn’t be the effect of any sanctions handed down to Man City, but rather that prospective future custodians 1892 Holdings – who recently purchaeed a 38% stake in the club and may well gain majority control at a later date – won’t desecrate the club’s name in the way that the Etihad hierarchy have done to the Manchester outfit.