Manchester City’s long-running financial case dominated the Premier League managers’ media sessions on Friday, with Liverpool’s Andoni Iraola preparing his side to face City on Sunday under a cloud that has stretched far beyond the touchline.
An independent commission appointed by the league has found City guilty on all 115 charges connected to alleged breaches of financial rules over nine seasons. The process is not yet complete, however, with an appeal still in play and the final consequences unresolved.
Quick facts
- Manchester City have been found guilty on 115 financial-rule charges by an independent commission.
- Liverpool host City on Sunday, with Andoni Iraola urging focus on the football.
- Everton manager David Moyes compared the case with his club’s eight-point deduction in 2023-24.
- Manchester United boss Michael Carrick said the scale of the issue demands clarity.
- Oliver Glasner called for a swift final outcome in the interests of Premier League integrity.
Iraola, formerly of Bournemouth, Rayo Vallecano, Mirandés and AEK Larnaca, said the uncertainty served nobody well. But the Liverpool manager was unwilling to offer a verdict of his own while the legal process continues.
“We do not know the full situation, so it would not be fair for us to give an opinion,” he said. “They have spent a long time examining it and they are the people who have to provide the answers. I have not read as much as they have.”
For Iraola, Sunday’s fixture is difficult enough without the surrounding noise. He expects his players to have their own views, but believes the size of the task on the pitch will keep minds fixed on the game.
“We have to concentrate on being the best club we can be,” he said.
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso struck a similarly cautious note. He said his squad had no new information and that Chelsea’s own position had not altered, insisting the club must deal only with matters within its control.
“We will see what happens at the right time, but we have to show respect,” Alonso said.
David Moyes, back in charge of Everton, was less restrained. Everton lost eight points in the 2023-24 campaign after breaches of the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules, and Moyes said the contrast in timescales was hard to understand.
“I was not here then, but it seems terrible that points were taken from us not so long ago and we had to pay fines,” Moyes said. “Other matters have been going on for nearly 10 years without being settled.”
Even so, the Everton manager acknowledged City’s sporting impact. He said their football, coaches and players had lifted the standard of the division, leaving opposing managers often forced into defensive measures simply to stay in a contest.
Across Manchester, United manager Michael Carrick described the case as exceptional in its reach. He said it had affected him personally in different ways over time and argued that the game needed to know what comes next.
Carrick also raised the prospect of historical honours being reassigned. “In sport, eventually you are given the medal,” he said, with United potentially in line to recover Premier League titles won by City.
Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi declined to be drawn into the wider debate, saying he had no room to think about problems beyond his team and club.
Nottingham Forest’s Oliver Glasner took the most procedural view. He noted that he was not present when the alleged events happened, that an appeal remains possible and that a final ruling has not yet been delivered.
“If someone cheats, they should be punished; if they do not, then they should not,” Glasner said. “For the integrity of the game and the Premier League, everyone hopes the final decision is announced soon.”
