Guardiola's decade of defiance: what City's manager said as 115 charges closed in

Manchester City are reportedly set to be found guilty on 114 of the 115 charges of breaching Premier League financial rules, bringing a verdict to one of English football’s longest-running legal sagas. The club have consistently denied all allegations, which relate to alleged financial misconduct between 2009 and 2018, and may yet appeal against both the findings and any sanctions imposed.

Pep Guardiola managed City from 2016, meaning the final two years of the charged period fell within his tenure. There is no suggestion he had any awareness of alleged wrongdoing. He won six Premier League titles and the Champions League during a decade at the club before departing earlier this year.

Guardiola was first drawn into the controversy in 2019, when Uefa launched a financial fair play investigation following reporting by German outlet Der Spiegel about City’s sponsorship arrangements. Those reports alleged that former manager Roberto Mancini, in charge between 2009 and 2013, had received additional payments via a secondary contract with Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira.

Asked about the matter in the immediate aftermath of City completing a domestic treble with an FA Cup win at Wembley, Guardiola reacted with visible frustration. “Honestly, do you think I deserve to have this type of question, the day we won the Treble, did I receive money? Are you accusing me of receiving money?” he said.

Uefa handed City a two-year European ban in 2020, a sanction subsequently overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Throughout, Guardiola maintained his trust in the club’s hierarchy, saying: “They explain and I believe them,” and adding that he would walk away if he ever felt he had been misled.

When the Premier League formally charged City in 2023, Guardiola argued the club was being prejudged before any hearing had concluded. “My first thought is we’re already being condemned,” he said. “It’s the same with Uefa, we were already condemned. The club proved we were completely innocent.”

He also pushed back on suggestions that the on-pitch achievements were tainted. “In the end, I know fairly that what we won we won on the pitch. We don’t have any doubts,” he said.

After signing a contract extension in 2024, Guardiola went further, indicating he would stay at City even if the club were relegated as a consequence of the charges — a scenario some commentators had raised as a theoretical possibility. The hearing into the matter concluded nearly two years ago, with the reported verdict now bringing the case to what may prove to be a decisive, if not yet final, stage.