Everything pumped-up Pep Guardiola said following Man City charges

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reviews the Tottenham defeat

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola came out fighting after his side were hit by over 100 charges by the Premier League regarding their financial activity over a 14-year period. He issued a strong defence as his outfit had been accused of breaking Financial Fair Play rules during a period where they won the league three times.

The six-time league champions have been accused of failing to give “a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”, of failing to “include full details” of player and manager remuneration, of failing to comply with rules regarding financial fair play and failing to cooperate in an investigation that has concluded after more than four years.

City had been banned from the Champions League by UEFA in 2020 after being found to have broken the competition’s financial rules, but the decision was overturned on appeal by the court of arbitration for sport. Guardiola fielded questions in his first appearance since the charges were levelled against his side and offered a passionate response.

“My first thought is we’re already being condemned,” Guardiola said in his press conference on Friday. “It’s the same with UEFA, we were already condemned. The club proved we were completely innocent. You know on what side I am.

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“We are lucky we live in a country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. It seems like we have already been sentenced. What is going to happen, I don’t know. We think we have good lawyers and we are going to defend our position. Time will depend what happens. We will see what a judge, the Premier League decides. In the same way with UEFA, we are innocent.

“[If found guilty] we will be back. We will get Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee and be back. The club, they talk to all of us. But we have trained like normal to get ready for Aston Villa. The last seven years have been for us, our fans and our people. The court will dictate what happens. I am fully convinced that we will be innocent.”

The case could rumble on for years and Guardiola already outlined the beginning of a timeline for the matter. “In this country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” he continued. “UEFA’s sentence wasn’t even that. It is now down to the lawyers of both sides to defend one side and the other one. It will be longer than one month, two months and three months. We know what happened with Uefa and we will see that.

“It happened in UEFA and that was for one or two years. Now it has happened everyone is going to talk about it every single day. We just have to focus on the pitch. There is a long process and we know what is going to happen.”

Guardiola accused his Premier League rivals and their fans of wanting to kick City out of the competition and provided an update on his future amid rumours that he may quit the club. “Be careful in the future because many clubs make suggestions and we have been accused,” Guardiola added. “I can have an opinion, but what do fans think? I don’t know. It is obvious the fans want to push us out of the competition. They believe we didn’t behave properly.

“I am not moving from this seat, I can assure you. I want to stay more than ever. After many, many years in the Premier League I do not want to move on. Against 90 teams we are alone, that’s for sure. We have to beat Aston Villa, like always we have done it. 19 clubs are not going to help us. We won the Premier League last season on the pitch. Let us defend (the charges). If it happens, we will accept it. But like UEFA, we will defend.

“I don’t know what is going to happen. I had the same feeling with UEFA. In fact, UEFA was worse. The players are focused with their talent and their effort. We will see what happens after the sentencing. I don’t want to anticipate what is going to happen.”

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