Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that nine clubs had already been pointing the finger at the Cityzens following their latest scrutiny after allegedly breaking Premier League rules.
The Etihad club have been referred by the Premier League to an independent commission for over 100 alleged breaches of financial regulations across a nine-year span, as well as the five more recent years for failing to aid their initial investigation.
The breaches essentially accuse the Cityzens of dodging financial fair play, inflating sponsorship deals and paying inappropriate amounts to both players and managers, with the majority of the breaches “in particular with respect to its revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its related parties and its operating costs”.
During that time, the club won the Premier League on three occasions, as well as three Carabao Cups and an FA Cup trophy.
And, speaking for the first time on the topic, ahead of his side’s clash with Aston Villa, Guardiola explained that he is no stranger to other sides wanting them to fail, revealing that during their UEFA case (Which was ultimately dropped) there were sides queuing up.
“While we wait for UEFA to make a sentence against us, nine teams – Burnley, Wolves, Leicester, Newcastle, Spurs, Arsenal, [Manchester] United, Liverpool, Chelsea – out of the Champions League when they wanted that position”, the Spaniard admitted.
“We have already been in the lower divisions. We will be back there – not a problem, just in case. We will call [former City players] Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee and we will do again. But they should wait. The Premier League put it there but they should wait. We are going to defend ourselves, like we did in the UEFA situation.”
He added that, though the case is not over, he feels that in the public eye his side are already guilty, even though he himself is ‘fully convinced’ that they will be found innocent.
“What’s happened since Monday is the same as what happened with UEFA. We have already been condemned. You have to understand that 19 teams in the Premier League are accusing us without us having the ability to defend. I am fully convinced we will be innocent.”
