Wayne Rooney rejects idea of retroactive 2012 title medal

Wayne Rooney says he would not be comfortable accepting a Premier League winners' medal for the 2011-12 season even if Manchester City are stripped of that title.

City were found guilty of 114 of the 115 charges brought against them by the Premier League last week and face sanctions that could range from a heavy fine to a points deduction or expulsion from the division.

Rio Ferdinand, who was part of the 2011-12 squad, has said he wants another league medal added to his collection, and David de Gea has also questioned whether he is owed two more. Rooney, speaking on Stick To United, does not see it that way.

"I have heard Rio has come out saying about getting another Premier League medal… I wouldn't really feel comfortable accepting another Premier League medal, if I'm being honest," he said. "I don't think we deserve it, we didn't do enough that season to win the league. I think we were six or seven points clear with four or five games to go and we threw it away."

United had led the table by eight points with six games left that season before defeats to City and Wigan, and a collapse from 4-2 up to a 4-4 draw with Everton, cost them the title on goal difference at the Stadium of Light. Rooney said he had tried to see the situation through the eyes of a City player rather than a United one.

"I've seen everything that has come out over the past few days and listening to people and I was putting myself in a Man City player's shoes… they're players, they're doing everything they can to try and win the Premier League title and in their mind they have done it, if those players have no understanding of what is going on above them, if that happened to me… I would be absolutely devastated. It might happen, they might take them [medals] away, but I wouldn't feel comfortable."

Rooney believes relegation, rather than a retrospective handover of titles, is the fitting sanction for City. Whether the Premier League follows either course remains to be decided, and any reallocation of the 2011-12 title would sit uneasily with the man who captained United that season.