Pep Guardiola has stated that all teams in the Premier League want Manchester City to lose their battle against 115 alleged breaches of the rules, but he insisted his club are innocent ‘until proven guilty’.
Responding to comments from La Liga chairman Javier Tebas that most top English clubs want City to be punished by the independent commission, which is set up on Monday, Guardiola said: “Maybe he’s right.
‘All the Premier League teams want us to be sanctioned, that’s for sure. I agree with Tebas for the first time and hopefully for the last time. But there is justice in a modern democracy – so wait for the decision.
“We believe we have done nothing wrong. We are going to an independent panel and we are going to wait and see. Good.”
City’s manager said his players had not discussed the case, which relates to alleged breaches of top-flight financial rules between 2009 and 2018.
Pep Guardiola has stated that every team in the Premier League wants Man City to be punished
The trial into City’s 115 alleged breaches of the rules is expected to start on Monday
Javier Tebas claimed the majority of Premier League clubs believe City should face sanctions
“No, we are not lawyers,” he said. “Erling (Haaland) is not a lawyer, so we have not spoken about it. I am happy that it starts on Monday and I know that there will be more rumors about the sentences.”
In an unmarked conference room in an undisclosed location, the most important court case in football history is about to begin. Manchester City’s credibility as the greatest team of this era is at stake.
The trial will be shrouded in unprecedented secrecy. It took a court case from Mail Sport alone for us to be able to report that the Premier League had taken a legal route to force City to provide evidence as part of their investigation.
Our barrister, Jude Bunting KC, won that argument after taking on Lord Pannick KC, who will lead City’s defence team when the case starts on Monday.
But behind closed doors, City are expected to spend ten weeks strenuously denying accusations they circumvented financial fair play rules by spending more than they were entitled to on the players who have made them the Premier League’s dominant force.
The city, which is fighting for its fifth consecutive title, is defending its case during an independent investigation
The league’s case, which is being reviewed by an independent disciplinary committee, is expected to revolve around allegations that City Abu Dhabi’s owners pumped money into the club, some of it disguised as sponsorship income, to create a healthy financial situation and allow for spending levels that would not breach FFP.
A whopping 54 of the 115 alleged breaches of the rules relate to City’s alleged failure to provide accurate financial information about the club’s income.
Much of the evidence may have come from a collection of emails brought to light by the so-called Football Leaks website, run by self-taught Portuguese computer genius Rui Pinto. The emails were published in the German magazine Der Spiegel in 2018.
It is highly likely that the credibility and reputation of Pinto himself will form the core of the argument that Lord Pannick puts to the committee.
To some, the Portuguese is a controversial figure, currently in a safe house for his own protection, following revelations that extend far beyond City. City say he is nothing less than a hacker, but he is now a real danger to them. His revelations were crucial to a UEFA investigation into the club, which resulted in them being banned from European competition for two years.
Much of the evidence against City may have come from a series of emails brought to light by the so-called Football Leaks
That decision was overturned in 2020 by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which ruled that some of the alleged offences were too far in the past to exceed UEFA’s five-year time limit for bringing charges.
The clock won’t help City this time. There is no ‘time limit’ on the evidence the Premier League will provide. But they strongly believe they can win the case and emerge from the shadow that has hung over them since they were charged two years ago.
