Former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has broken his silence to support the club after a Premier League panel found them guilty of financial wrongdoing.
Guardiola posted a statement on the X account managed by his team, reassuring supporters following the official verdict released on Tuesday afternoon. The ruling stated that Manchester City had cooked the books to the tune of nearly £900million through money artificially pumped into the club by their Abu Dhabi owners over a nine-year period.
"I want every single Man City fan to know I am here; more than ever," Guardiola wrote. "I am, always have been, always will be behind my club, my owner, my chairman, Ferran (Soriano, CEO), the players, staff, Enzo (Maresca, manager) and you, our unique supporters."
He added: "Let me be clear: we will get through this together. I love you all."
The Premier League verdict
The findings followed an extensive investigation into the eight-times Premier League champions, who were accused of entering into sham deals during the period they established themselves as the major force in English football. In a damning 40-page verdict, the independent three-person panel ruled that City had artificially inflated sponsorship agreements and routed disguised payments from their Abu Dhabi owners to bypass league financial regulations.
The panel found Manchester City guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of the regulations, as well as the majority of charges concerning a failure to co-operate with the Premier League probe. City witnesses were also accused of lying in front of the three-person panel, further escalating the fallout after news of the guilty verdicts first emerged on Friday.
Guardiola stepped down from his managerial role this summer after spending a decade at the helm of the Manchester club. There is no suggestion that the manager was complicit in any of the financial doping, although the timeline investigated by the league overlaps with the first two years of his tenure in England.
A decade of domestic dominance
Guardiola arrived at Manchester City in 2016 after previously enjoying trophy-filled spells managing Barcelona and Bayern Munich. During his ten years at the Etihad Stadium, he established Manchester City as one of Europe's premier clubs, winning six Premier League titles, one Champions League, three FA Cups, five Carabao Cups and a FIFA Club World Cup.
Manchester City, originally founded as St Mark's in 1880, underwent a major transformation following its 2008 acquisition by the Abu Dhabi United Group. Under the chairmanship of Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano, the club invested heavily in squad development and infrastructure at the Etihad Stadium. Former Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca was appointed to succeed Guardiola ahead of the current season.
Trust in club management
Throughout his tenure, Guardiola was repeatedly asked about the Premier League financial investigation during press conferences. He consistently maintained that he trusted the club's senior executives when questioned about the allegations, stating that he would front up to the charges if and when they were proven true.
