Gary Lineker has urged Manchester City to “accept whatever punishment” they receive for the sake of the game, after the club was found guilty of over 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules.
An independent commission stated last week that the city had set up “sham” contracts with several of their commercial partners in order to artificially inflate revenues and cut costs across a nine-season span, from 2009 to 2018.
The 10-time English champions, who still deny any wrongdoing, confirmed on Friday that they had lodged an appeal against the judgement.
No sanction has been determined as of yet, but the city could be hit with significant points deductions, a fine, or even expulsion from the Premier League.
“Obviously, it looks really bad for Manchester City and bad for the game, too,” former England captain Lineker said on Wednesday at Leaders Week London 2026, held at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium.
“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.”
Speaking on whether City should be stripped of the three league titles they won during the period in question, 65-year-old Lineker 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 and won multiple trophies before leaving in 2025, said the players would always carry the memories of their achievements, “whatever happens.”
Speaking on Talksport, the Burnley right-back said, “It’s something we probably don’t want to talk about because we want to be looked upon as winning (those) 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 and travelled abroad to Istanbul when we won the treble, and they deserve that night as well.”
