Guardiola backs Manchester City after financial-rule verdict
Former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has reaffirmed his support for the club after an independent commission found it guilty of more than 100 Premier League financial-rule breaches. City denies the charges and says it will appeal. No sanction has yet been imposed, leaving the club’s next legal and sporting steps uncertain.
Former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has expressed strong support for the club after an independent commission found it guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules. Mr Guardiola, who left City in May after a decade in charge, posted on X that he remained behind the club, its owner, chairman and chief executive Ferran Soriano, players, staff, current manager Enzo Maresca and supporters. He said they would get through the matter together.
The Premier League announced on Tuesday that City had been found guilty of serious breaches covering a nine-season period from 2009 to 2018. The commission found that the club had arranged sham contracts with commercial partners to inflate revenue artificially, conceal its financial position and avoid spending-limit breaches under Premier League and UEFA rules. The commission also found City guilty on most of the charges relating to its alleged failure to cooperate with the league’s investigation.
The source material does not state the exact number of charges on which the club was cleared or specify the commission’s full reasoning. No sanction has yet been imposed. Manchester City has consistently denied the allegations and said it would appeal against the decision.
Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said the club was confident it could prove its innocence. Mr Guardiola’s intervention gives public backing to the club during the continuing dispute. He won 20 trophies during his time as manager, although the source material does not say whether his comments were made in response to a request from City.
City’s record during the period after its 2008 takeover includes eight Premier League titles, four FA Cups, seven League Cups and its first Champions League victory in 2023. Those achievements are separate from the commission’s findings, which concern financial conduct and cooperation with the investigation. The appeal and any eventual sanction will determine the next stage of the case.
The available report provides no timetable for either process.
This independently written report is based on information supplied by the named publisher. Vertrix News has not independently verified the source report.