Merson insists Man City players ‘haven’t won the league’ in scathing attack on club owners

Paul Merson has launched a scathing attack on the Manchester City owners, tearing into the club bosses for “nicking moments away from people” and insisting the players “haven’t won them the league”.

City were found guilty of breaching 114 Premier League rules by an independent commission last month, as the panel found them to have used ‘sham’ sponsorship deals to boost they earnings by around £900m between 2009 and 2018.

The club have now appealed that verdict as they insist upon their innocence and clim they have ‘irrefutable evidence’ to prove it, in the form of documents showing that the sponsorship funds came from the Abu Dhabi government rather from their owners.

READ: Ten Manchester City grounds for appeal and why they won’t wash

The initial three-man commission has already seen this evidence, as it ‘concluded it was an explanation that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme’, but City hope an all-new panel will rule in their favour.

Possible punishments include fines, transfer bans, points deductions and even Premier League expulsion, while it’s also been suggested the club should have their titles stripped in a retrospective action.

Judging by Merson’s stance, he wants a severe punishment to be handed down.

“Ask yourself one question: Would Manchester City have won the Premier League without doing what they were doing? Absolutely no chance,” he said on Sky Sports.

“They would have been so far behind everyone else with the revenue and the PSR and all that kind of stuff, they would have been left behind. So what they done made them win the league.

Asked about the players role in winning the league, Merson retorted: “They’ve [the players] won it because of them upstairs. They [the players] haven’t won the league, they’ve [the owners] won them the league.”

Thieving Man City owners

Merson then dismissed a suggestion that the players “still have to go out and win it”.

“Oh, come on!” Merson shouted. “They had all the best players! They had the two best players in every position. Teams would go there petrified and get beat 4, 5, 6.

“Teams would go there and get their stomachs tickled and come away with a 2-0 and go like that [mimes lifting a trophy].

“If it wasn’t for the people upstairs they wouldn’t have been able to do it. It’t about moments and you can’t take the moments away from them but you’re taking them away from other people.

“Them upstairs at Manchester City have nicked moments away from other people.”