Ian Wright has called for Manchester City to be given an ‘unprecedented punishment’ following the verdict of the independent commission that found them guilty for breaching the Premier League ’s financial rules over a nine season period.

The Premier League released a statement on Tuesday evening which revealed that Man City had been “guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the league’s financial rules over a 9-season period.”

The verdict also revealed that City were guilty of setting up “‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors during the period, which were part of a disguised funding scheme, whereby those companies were only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.”

The result of these schemes meant that City were able to inflate revenue and reduce costs by more than £900m in what Wright described as ‘cheating on an industrial scale’.

Speaking as a pundit on ITV ahead of England’s Nations League clash with Czech Republic, Wright touched on the Man City verdict and said: “It’s cheating on an industrial scale.

“It’s quite surreal seeing it written down like that. You can’t mention [Man] City without mentioning what’s going on because they were so great. I feel like an unprecedented punishment is required here.

“It’s a massive day for the Premier League, they’ve taken on a whole country.”

Fellow pundit, Roy Keane , also addressed the recent update and called the verdict “bittersweet” due to how it will hurt the brand and reputation of the Premier League itself.