Steven has made peace with never winning the Premier League and with the incident at the back end of that season. But he does not want a retroactive medal if Manchester City are stripped of titles, and he wants the punishment to go well beyond a headline about Liverpool getting one back.
Gerrard's view on the punishment
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Gerrard said: "I think it needs to be a transfer ban. I think it needs to be points over a period of time. And make them suffer like they've made everyone else suffer for the nine, ten years that they've done it for. That would be my opinion. But there needs to be an example set."
He had already told Goal that he had come to terms with never winning the Premier League. He added that he had come to terms with "the incident that happened to me at the back end of that season" as well.
The point he keeps returning to is not his own medal cabinet. It is the wider damage, with Gerrard asking what about the memories City have taken away from rivals over nine or 10 years.
The wider fallout he describes
Gerrard named Spurs, Manchester United and Everton fans, along with teams at the bottom and in the cups. In his view, the argument stretches far beyond Liverpool and the old title race that keeps getting dragged back into the conversation.
That is why the easy line about handing Liverpool a retroactive title misses his point. Gerrard is asking for sanctions he sees as matching the scale of the charges case, and he is saying that a past medal would not be enough.
The one thing he is clear on is that he would not accept a Premier League medal if City were stripped of titles. The debate around punishments will go on, but Gerrard has already said where he stands on the one reward that keeps being raised.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →
