Manchester City: Rival clubs want more than relegation from the Premier League

Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano (left) and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak have continued to insist the club are innocent despite the guilty verdicts

A number of Premier League clubs want Manchester City to be hit with both "retrospective punishments" and sanctions for the future for their mass financial rule-breaking, sources have told BBC Sport.

City have appealed against the verdict, while the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is poised to look at the findings to see if there may be any suggestions of potential misconduct.

There is also a feeling from at least four Premier League boardrooms that a "one-hit" points deduction resulting in relegation to the Championship would be an insufficient punishment given the severity of City's wrongdoing.

One senior club source said City should be stripped of their titles, and added there was "no great rush" among clubs to push for the redistribution of trophies, but rather to take honours away and leave them vacant.

However, in a sign of a range of opinions across the league, BBC Sport was previously told there was little appetite among other clubs for City to be stripped of titles.

A number of Premier League figures therefore believe any points deduction should be split over multiple seasons, while there is also a sense that transfer bans that stretch over a number of windows would also significantly hinder City's ability to regain their top-flight status as quickly as possible.

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One club source also said it would be "bizarre, almost obtuse" if City were able to trade in the upcoming January transfer window, if this process is ongoing and sanctions have not been applied.

However, sources said there was "empathy" and "understanding" about the difficult position the Premier League is in, given the gravity of this situation and the ongoing legal process.

Rival clubs could then be paid compensation by City based on where they would have finished versus where they did finish.

The trip to Anfield is their first game since news of the verdict broke.