Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard on Monday called for Manchester City to be stripped of their titles and face a multi-year punishment over financial rule breaches, including a transfer ban and points deductions.

Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Gerrard said the club should face consequences but argued that individual players should not be required to return their medals.

"In terms of how I feel, I potentially could be affected if you like, I wouldn't want individual players to give stuff back, that wouldn't be right," he said.

"But the club, they have to be stripped ... There needs to be an example set," he added.

Gerrard opposed relegating City to the Championship, arguing that such a move would unfairly affect clubs competing for promotion to the Premier League.

"I don't think its fair on the Championship if they go down, because they will be one of the three teams that come up, so that takes a slot away from the Championship so it's not fair on the EFL," he said.

"I think it needs to be a transfer ban, a points [deduction] over a period of time and make them suffer like they've made everyone suffer over the nine, 10 years that they've done it," he added.

An independent Premier League commission found Manchester City guilty of serious financial rule breaches between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, including arranging "sham" contracts with commercial partners to artificially inflate revenue.

The club appealed the ruling, rejecting the allegations and maintaining innocence. Sanctions have yet to be determined. (AA)