FORMER Man City skipper Kyle Walker says he will have his “4 in a row” leg tattoo removed if the club are stripped of their Premier League titles.
, 36, is the first Blues star to publicly address the scandal after were , although they are appealing against the decision.
He said of losing his inking celebrating the team’s streak of Prem trophies: “I’m probably going to have to do that.”
Right-back Walker, now with in the , said: “Let’s not hide from the fact that, you know, they’ve been found guilty, but they’re going through an appeal.
“Now, as a player, all I can say is that all we did is go out and play our best as a team and I will defend the players for the rest of my life.
“I feel that what we did and what we achieved in that space of time was probably incredible and probably won’t be done ever again.
“But from the outside looking in, it doesn’t look great and we have to address that.”
from the league for through illicit state-backed sponsorships.
Although the verdicts relate to 2009 to 2018, possible sanctions could cover the “four in a row” league title streak from 2020 to 2024.
Walker, co-hosting Drive! with Andy Goldstein, said he hoped he would avoid having to have his tattoo removed.
He added: “There’s only a select few of us that can say that we won four . . . I’ll try and keep it on, but hopefully we don’t get the things taken away.”
In more trouble for the club, shows City’s Abu Dhabi owners bagged a £10million-a-year naming rights package for the team’s ground from state-funded Etihad Airways.
Yet under a deal with Council, local taxpayers got no more than £750,000 a year.
The stadium was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games using £112million of taxpayers’ and lottery cash and was leased by the council to City.
Professor Jon Silver, of Sheffield University’s Urban Institute, said that as the land and facilities remain a public asset used by a private enterprise, “further scrutiny is required”.
The council said income from its freehold deal with the club — including rental income, naming rights and potential uplift via European fixtures — was ring-fenced for sport and leisure
