The Premier League is charging Manchester City with numerous breaches of financial rules. Before the game against Aston Villa, coach Pep Guardiola is also legally confident of victory.
Manchester City has an important game against in the Premier League on Sunday (02/12/2023). In the home game against Aston Villa, it is up to Manchester to keep up with leaders Arsenal. Before matchday, Manchester City were five points behind Arsenal, having played a game more. There are highlights of the game on Sunday in the sports show.
But City are at the center of the Premier League in a different way these days. The clubs have been accused by the league of more than a hundred breaches of financial rules between 2009 and 2018. “I am absolutely convinced that we are innocent”said Pep Guardiola before the game. “We are fortunate to live in a fantastic country where everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
What the club is accused of
The Premier League announced earlier this week that the club has been accused of breaching financial rules for years. An independent commission should investigate the allegations. It’s about rule violations in more than 100 cases.
It’s about incomplete balance sheets, disguised payments to employees and a lack of cooperation in the investigations. Manchester City denies the allegations and is confident of victory: “We look forward to the matter being finally settled.” The matter is still taken seriously, according to English media reports, the club’s dedicated lawyer earns as much as Manchester striker Erling Haaland.
How it goes on
The procedure will soon take a back seat for the time being as it could take several years. Guardiola criticized an alleged prejudice. “My first thought is that we’ve already been judged. It’s the same as what happened to us at UEFA”he said.
In 2020, City was banned from the Champions League by UEFA for two years. However, the ban was lifted before the international sports court CAS. In the opinion of the court, some allegations were not sufficiently substantiated, others were time-barred. There was no acquittal, but only a fine of 10 million euros remained. One big difference: In the Premier League, going to the CAS is not provided for in the statutes. A three-person Premier League commission must now review and decide the case.
Manchester City stadium
How the case might end
If the worst comes to the worst, the club, which is supported by sheikhs from Abu Dhabi, faces expulsion from the Premier League. A fine or the deduction of points is also possible. It is not to be expected that old results will be changed in the event of a guilty verdict. In the period to which the allegations relate, the club was English champions three times.
“All the great moments we had are still ours. Nobody can take that away from us”said Guardiola. For example, in the case of athletics world championships or the Olympic Games, it is common in doping cases for medals to be subsequently passed on to actual winners.
How the game against Aston Villa could be affected
“The club spoke to us about it but I haven’t spoken to the players about it. We train normally to try to beat Aston Villa”said Guardiola. But the topic is currently the top priority in Manchester and in the Premier League.