Pep Guardiola has hit back at the allegations facing Manchester City and declared he is prepared to stay and fight for the club.
Earlier this week the Premier League accused City of over 100 breaches of its financial fair play rules over a period of nine seasons. They are alleged to have provided inaccurate financial information, breached rules in relation to player and manager remuneration and hindered the Premier League’s investigation, which was launched four years ago.
City later issued their own statement which said the club would use “irrefutable evidence” to put the matter “to rest once and for all”. In 2020 the club wer previously charged by UEFA for committing "serious breaches" of FFP regulations between 2012 and 2016 before seeing their two-year ban from European competitions overturned at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
In his press conference on Friday, a clearly agitated Guardiola refuted the new allegations, which he alleged had been brought by the other 19 teams in the Premier League. He said he is convinced City will be exonerated, despite being presumed guilty.
“My first thought is that we have already been condemned,” he said. “So, what’s happened since Monday happened before with UEFA – we were condemned, we already have the accusation, now we have charges.
“You have to understand that 19 teams in the Premier League are accusing us without letting us [have the] opportunity to defend in the words of my club, my owner, my chairman, my people. They explain everything during these three or four years. You know exactly on what side I am.”
He added: “We are not part of the establishment, being in this league. But at the same time, I understand they can do it. Allow ourselves to defend, that’s all. I don’t know about other countries, but in this country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty – and it didn’t happen. So with UEFA there was a sentence, now we are without even that.”
Guardiola believes that, although the case should “happen immediately, in one, two or three months” it will take a lot longer to settle. City have hired Lord Pannick KC – the same lawyer who was successful at CAS in 2020 – to fight their case against the Premier League.
There has been speculation this week that the charges could prompt Guardiola to leave. The Catalan coach is the second longest serving manager in the Premier League, having been with City since 2016, but has previously vowed to his superiors at City: “'If you lie to me, I am not here. I will be out'."
But he was steadfast in his position on Friday. “I am not moving from this seat, I can assure you,” he said. “I want to stay more than ever. After many, many years in the Premier League I do not want to move on.”
He also had a word of warning for the rival clubs that he sees as ganging up on City. "They open a precedent right now, what they have done to us, be careful in the future,” he said. “There are a lot of clubs that can be accused, like we have been accused, without maybe being innocent. Who knows what’s going to happen in the future.”
