Roy Keane tells Man City stars to throw "medals in the bin" after Premier League guilty verdict

The Premier League announced on Tuesday that an independent commission had found Man City guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-season period. The statement stated that the Citizens were guilty of arranging "sham contracts" and relied on "sham agreements to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs by more than £900m" during the relevant period.

Man City were also found guilty of all charges bar one that related to the non-cooperation wth the Premier League's investigation. Man City subsequently released a statement to deny any wrongdoing and have until Friday, October 2, to appeal the decision.

"They knew it would hurt a lot of people, but they still done it," Keane said. "And if I was a player with the success of the last few years - I'd 100 per cent be sticking those medals in the bin.

When asked whether the players would feel let down, Keane replied: "100 per cent you would. "You're hearing nonsense from ex-players saying they won on the pitch.

"It's tough for the players, the manager," Keane added. "You've got owners who are quite happy cheating.

"It's very difficult going forward for these players to try to maintain the level of excellence." The stripping of Premier League titles is one of the possible sanctions that could be handed out, although the Premier League do not have a set of punishments defined for financial rule breaches. Fines and points deductions areamong many other sanctionsthat are also available to the independent commission.