Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills has called for the club to receive a severe punishment covering seven seasons over alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules.
Mills argued that a one-season sanction would not adequately reflect the seriousness of the case, insisting that any punishment should correspond with the period covered by the most serious charges.
Manchester City face more than 100 alleged breaches of Premier League regulations and have appealed against the verdict.
Mills questioned whether relegating City to the Championship would be fair to clubs competing in the second tier, given the strength of the squad they could field.
“I think that makes it unfair on teams in the EFL, I would say, because City will still have the strongest squad by some distance,” he said.
He explained that City’s first-team players, reserves, under-21s and footballers out on loan could give them a considerable advantage over their Championship rivals.
“If a few players left, they’d blitz the Championship. So you’re taking away a promotion spot from someone in the Championship. Is that fair? Not really, I would say,” Mills said.
He also cast doubt on whether Championship clubs would enjoy significant financial benefits from hosting City, arguing that their presence would not automatically transform the division’s television revenue.
“It’s not like you’re going to make massive revenue off Manchester City. The TV deal is not going to suddenly change because Man City are in the Championship for a season,” he said.
Mills believes the punishment should instead be substantial and reflect the duration of the alleged financial breaches.
“So I think the punishment has to be fair, harsh, and I would say probably over the course of seven seasons,” he said.
He added, “I know there’s 114 charges, but I think the seven most serious charges are for that seven-season period where they’ve been found guilty of financial doping, effectively.”
According to Mills, a one-season penalty would fail to deliver a meaningful sanction.
“So, if it were me, I think a very harsh punishment for a seven-year period would be fair, because one season does nothing. It becomes irrelevant,” he said.
Mills also predicted a hostile atmosphere when Manchester City visit Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, with home supporters potentially making their feelings known through chants, banners and flags.
The former defender said he would have welcomed the challenge as a player.
“It’s actually one I’d like to play in, I think. As a player, you want to play in these sort of games – incredibly hostile,” he said.
He expects Liverpool supporters to come up with creative ways to express their views during the match.
“Football fans are clever. They’ll come up with some interesting signs, some clever flags, some banners and some great songs, no doubt. So that’ll be quite interesting in itself,” Mills said.
He suggested City could use the hostile reception as motivation, with the situation potentially encouraging the players to adopt a siege mentality.
“It’s an easy team talk from Maresca: ‘The world hates us. Liverpool hates us. Let’s go out there and beat them,’” he said.
Mills also questioned whether some players would have chosen to join City without the club’s success in previous years. However, he suggested that the financial case might not provide rival managers with an effective motivational message.
“It’s a hard sell for the players. The players are looking and going: ‘Really? That’s your team talk?’ So I leave that to the fans. I think Liverpool will just deal with it as a normal game,” he said.
He added that City could turn the prospect of widespread opposition into an incentive to perform.
“As I said, it’s a siege mentality: ‘The world, everybody wants us to lose today. Every single non-Manchester City fan wants us to get beat 3-0 or 4-0 and get it handed to us. Go out there and make sure that doesn’t happen.’
“So, I think it’s an easy game for City to play, almost,” he said.
Mills played for Manchester City between 2004 and 2009 after joining from Leeds United on a free transfer in July 2004.
He made 51 league appearances for the club, scoring once, and also spent time on loan at Hull City, Charlton Athletic and Derby County before leaving City in 2009.