Manchester City are waiting to learn if they have been found guilty of the Premier League’s 115 charges for alleged financial breaches.
Pep Guardiola dismissed the idea that Manchester City’s wait to learn their fate surrounding their Premier League charges is having any impact on the squad at all.
City were charged with 115 alleged breaches of financial rules by the Premier League in February 2023, with a ten-week trial held infront of an independent panel at the end of last year. A decision is due soon, with Guardiola previously suggesting it would be March – but that doesn’t mean they expect to learn their fate in the final three days of the month.
Instead, the wait goes on, and so does the speculation. Guardiola leaned into that on Friday when asked how the uncertainty was affecting the club knowing they could learn the verdict any day in theory.
“No, no. We are more than one year with that so nothing changes with one more week, two more weeks,” he said, before grinning and adding: “Or three more weeks or four more weeks.”
Clear not to add any timeframe to the wait after his last comments made headline news, Guardiola instead laughed it off. He has previously promised to speak his mind when a decision is announced. Last week, Erling Haaland told Norwegian reporters that he would not have signed his nine-year contract extension if he was concerned over the charges.
It feels like the calm before the storm in that aspect – City are not thinking about it but will surely be prepared for the media scrum when they learn if they are guilty or not. Until then, it’s business as usual.