At the Stade de France, on the eve of Italy’s Nations League meeting with France, Roberto Mancini sought to draw a firm line between himself and Manchester City’s financial case. The Italy coach said the Premier League club’s confirmed breaches, covering the period from 2009 to 2018, were a matter for the institution rather than for him.
“It does not concern me. Unfortunately, it is City’s problem,” Mancini said when asked about questions surrounding payments made during his spell in Manchester. The Premier League’s decision found City responsible for failing to provide accurate financial information concerning the remuneration of players and coaches, and the club is appealing the ruling.
Mancini was City manager from 2009 until 2013, a defining stretch in the early years of the Abu Dhabi-backed ownership. He led the side to the 2011 FA Cup and then to the 2011-12 Premier League title, their first league championship for half a century. His tenure ended in 2013 after City lost the FA Cup final to Wigan.
The former Inter and Italy manager had previously acknowledged, while in Turkey, that he held two contracts during his time at City. One was his principal agreement, worth £1.45 million a year, while the other was an advisory arrangement with a club in Abu Dhabi. Documents made public in 2018 brought the second deal into focus amid the wider investigation into City’s finances.
“Having a double contract is not my problem; it is probably theirs,” Mancini said, maintaining that responsibility lay with the club’s leadership. The arrangements were alleged to have reduced City’s UK tax and income-tax liabilities by around £12 million, leaving a successful but now heavily scrutinised chapter of the club’s modern rise under renewed attention.
