Manchester City’s long-running financial case has entered its most severe phase, with the Premier League finding the Etihad club guilty on all 115 charges brought against it. Within a day of the verdict, Pep Guardiola issued an emphatic message of support for the club he managed from July 2016 until last summer.
City have until Friday, 2 October, to lodge an appeal and are expected to do so. The potential consequences are wide-ranging, from a fine or points deduction to the stripping of honours or even removal from the Premier League.
The charges relate to financial-rule breaches identified as occurring between 2018 and 2019. The ruling places renewed focus on a club whose rise under Guardiola reshaped the English and European game, including the 2022-23 Champions League triumph that delivered City’s first and, so far, only European Cup.
Guardiola’s message from beyond the Etihad
Guardiola, now no longer in the City dugout, made clear that his loyalty remains with the club’s hierarchy, players, staff and supporters. In a social-media post, he told supporters around the world that he stood with them “more than ever”.
He said he had always been, and would remain, behind “my club”, its owner, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive Ferran Soriano, the squad, staff and Enzo Maresca. Guardiola added that the club would come through the situation together and ended his message with a declaration of affection for the supporters.
The post was accompanied by photographs from key moments of his City association: alongside Al Mubarak, at the Etihad Stadium, and with Soriano and former sporting director Txiki Begiristain. Another image showed Guardiola with the Champions League trophy won in 2023, the defining continental landmark of his time in Manchester.
For City, the appeal process now becomes the central institutional battle. The verdict has brought the prospect of sporting sanctions into view, while Guardiola’s intervention underlined the strength of the internal bonds formed during an era in which the club became a regular presence at the summit of European football.
