"You can't take away those moments from players and fans," Danny Mills said as he argued that any punishment for Manchester City should look forward, not back. The former City defender said medals and titles would be meaningless to remove because the celebrations, bonuses and memories already happened. City were found guilty of 114 of 115 charges levelled at them by the Premier League, with the accusation centred on sham agreements that allegedly manipulated financial accounts by £900million over a nine-season period from 2009 to 2018. City maintain their innocence and are appealing the verdict.

Mills' argument on retrospective punishment

Mills told dailymail.com and goal.com that taking away titles now would not alter what players and fans already lived through. "You can take titles away, irrelevant. You can take medals and trophies away from players, irrelevant," he said. "They've had those moments, they've had those days out, they've had those bonuses. You've had all the upside of that for a number of years."

He also pointed to the distance in time. "If it was this season or last season, it's slightly different, but you're looking at almost 10 years ago. It doesn't matter, in effect," he said, adding that reopening old results would be "kind of irrelevant".

City, the case and the wider debate

The case has already moved beyond footballing theory. City are top of the Premier League with 15 points from 5 matches, and they have won their last 5 league games. That is the context in which Mills is arguing for a forward-looking sanction rather than a historical rewrite.

His broader view on regulation is just as blunt. Mills said Financial Fair Play should exist so clubs do not go bust, and he backed a model where billionaire owners could spend what they want if the money is real and player contracts are protected in escrow. For City, though, the immediate issue remains the appeal and the unresolved question of what any punishment, if any, would look like.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →