EPL: Man City staff ‘expect’ Guardiola exit before possible sanctions

Man City staff are expecting Pep Guardiola to have left the Premier League champions before any potential sanctions kick in over alleged breaches of financial rules, according to reports.

City, six-time winners of the Premier League, stand accused of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

The club are alleged to have broken rules related to accurate financial reporting, the submission of full details of manager and player pay within the relevant contracts, the duty to abide by UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, the duty to abide by Premier League profitability and sustainability regulations and the duty to co-operate and assist with Premier League investigations.

A Man City statement expressed surprise that the alleged breaches had been published, given the club’s “extensive engagement” with the league on the matter. The club say they look forward to the independent commission considering the “irrefutable evidence” to support their position.

The potential sanctions are being discussed in the press and on social media with a report in The Sun claiming earlier today that their Premier League rivals are pushing for relegation if Man City are found guilty of the alleged breaches.

And now the Daily Mail claim that ‘staff behind the scenes at Manchester City expect Pep Guardiola to have already departed before any possible sanctions for financial rule breaches hit’.

Speaking in May 2022, Guardiola said: “I said to them, ‘If you lie to me, I am not here. I will be out,’ which has raised questions about whether a guilty verdict would end the Catalan’s time in charge.”

And there is ‘a growing expectation that Guardiola will not still be in charge by the time any potential sanctions are levelled against City’ after the Man City boss was ‘one of the first to be told of the news among City’s senior figures before it was made public on Monday’.

There have been suggestions that one of the punishments Man City could face is relegation if they are found guilty – but the Daily Telegraph insists that the EFL could reject the Citizens as they ‘would have no obligation to accept Manchester City’ into their leagues.

La Liga president Javier Tebas – who has been criticial of Man City and Paris Saint-Germain for years over their spending – reacted to the news that City had been charged by the Premier League on social media.

Tebas tweeted: “On 9-5-2017 we denounced in Soccerex Manchester the breaches of the @ManCity and @PSG_espanol of financial fair play.

“It is incredible that the @premierleague took years to find out. We denounce that there are more cases, will it take so many years too?”