Rio Ferdinand Calls for Man City Titles to Be Stripped

Rio Ferdinand has humorously called on former Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott to return his 2011-12 Premier League winner's medal, as Ferdinand continues to advocate for the club to be stripped of its titles.

Manchester City and its supporters are awaiting potential sanctions after the Premier League found the club guilty of a substantial number of charges related to financial irregularities. Possible punishments range from financial penalties and point deductions to the forfeiture of titles.

One of the titles potentially at risk is City's maiden Premier League crown from the 2011-12 season, secured by Sergio Aguero's last-minute goal against QPR. Manchester United finished second that season, with Ferdinand as a key player.

"Next time Joleon's on, he better bring my b****y medal," Ferdinand stated on his platform, 'Rio Ferdinand Presents'. "If you're found guilty, then I think you should have to give the medals back. When I see Joleon, I'm actually going to go to his house and just say, 'Listen, hand it over. Hand it over'. You can't really sit there and say that you were champions, can you? Or you won that or you won that. Well, they're not going to have to pay any fines. They're not going to get relegated. Just hand over the trophy. Hand over the medals, hand over the trophy. Simple as."

Ferdinand was among the first former United players to publicly call for City's title to be revoked. He posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, "Another Premier League medal to be added to the cabinet."

"They've been the best team in the country by a country mile, right?" Ferdinand continued. "And they've had the best manager here. But again, if found guilty, there need to be relevant punishments and that's what has to be put in place.

"So, we have to just sit and wait. Again, the killer for this is that it's took this long. That's that. But back to your point about can we still admire some of the football and and some of the moments that they had? Of course you can. You can still admire. And again, I'll reiterate the players aren't to blame in this.

"There's people that are in much more powerful positions and authority positions within the football clubs that make all these decisions. So, I wouldn't place any of the blame on any of the players shoulders, but they're going to be looked at differently and it's inevitable because that's just the way it is."

Ferdinand departed Manchester United at the end of the 2013-14 season. City secured another Premier League title in that season, with Liverpool finishing as runners-up.

Should City be found to have their titles stripped for the period of alleged financial breaches, Manchester United would be retroactively awarded the 2011-12 and 2017-18 titles, while Liverpool would be credited with the 2013-14 title.