When Enzo Maresca was talking to Manchester City about taking over from Pep Guardiola, neither party raised the issue that seemed to be the elephant in the room: the 115 charges the Premier League had levelled in 2023. Or so the Italian said, anyway, which felt a significant omission. The day City seemed to think would never come has now arrived, the guilty verdict to 114 of those charges of breaching financial rules delivered, the word “sham” prominent in the 40-page explanation from the independent commission and the accusation a club cheated for years now prominent.
City, Maresca included, can face an uncertain future and a disputed past. An era in English football is being reappraised. If it may be awkward for some, from Omar Berrada to Mikel Arteta, if City’s trophies were taken away, Maresca denied they were tainted. “Absolutely not,” he said. He has his medals, from his role as Guardiola’s assistant in City’s all-conquering 2022-23 campaign. He feels they were earned. “The last time I was here was the treble season. I know the efforts from the players, from the club, from the manager in that time – Pep – so I know the effort the club put in to achieve that target. I don’t have any doubts about that.”
And the broader theme of Maresca’s first press conference since independent commission’s verdict came in was that he seemed to have no doubts: in the City hierarchy, in their prospects in the appeal. It would take a remarkable reversal for City to be cleared, but the club have spent more than three years claiming they have “irrefutable” proof of their innocence. “I would like to speak about this situation when we win the appeal,” said Maresca, when asked if he would walk away if City find themselves demoted to another division.
Which could be their fate. Three-and-a-half years earlier, Guardiola had joked that he would call Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee out of retirement if City were sent down to the lower leagues. Maresca implied he could stay if so. “I won the Championship with Leicester,” he said. “So in case, in League One, we are going to see.”
Manchester City are set to appeal after being found guilty on almost every charge (Getty)
And there were echoes of Guardiola’s extraordinary press conference performance in February 2023, when the charges were levelled. Once again, the man in front of the microphones was not the one responsible for the misdemeanours, whether alleged or proved. The Catalan went far beyond the call of duty in defending his employers. The Italian did likewise. “I completely trust the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, the whole organisation,” he said, while stopping short of endorsing chief executive Ferran Soriano’s statement that there was a conspiracy against City.
Maresca did not sound like a man having second thoughts about his own choices. “I trust the people and this is why I joined the club and there is not another club in the world where I would like to be,” he said. “I am very happy to be here, I am very proud, as I’ve said since day one. I completely trust the club in this moment, in the future, always.”
Guardiola said in 2022 he would leave City if the club hierarchy lied to him. His eventual departure, four years later, was for different reasons. He will make his first return for Wednesday’s Champions League game against Paris Saint-Germain. “It is always a pleasure,” said Maresca. “After 10 years here, he can come anytime he wants.” It does not feel much of a social visit, admittedly, as much as a show of support.
Pep Guardiola will return to Manchester City for their game against PSG (Getty)
And yet City need far more than unity, far more than a siege mentality. The club has projected confidence throughout. That confidence scarcely looks justified now. “We completely understand the seriousness of the situation,” said Maresca.
A failure to address the subject in what, formally or otherwise, was a job interview suggests otherwise even if, remarkably, he claimed he would have joined City if they had already been found guilty. “We didn’t speak about that because I don’t think that was a problem for the club in that time,” said Maresca. “They are thinking in an honest way.” The independent commission ruled otherwise, given that some of the charges related to a lack of cooperation with the Premier League.
Maresca and his players are not responsible for City’s current plight. They may be guilty of sins of omission, of blithely ignoring the worst-case scenarios when committing to contracts. The Italian implied that they are not considering exit strategies.
“They are 20, 25 years old,” he said. “They come, they enjoy their training sessions, they go home happy, they are top of the league, so they are relaxed.” That might feel unlikely but a smiling Maresca cut a relaxed figure. It was an illustration that there can be one perception of City from the outside, another on the inside. That is still more the case now.
Enzo Maresca is confident that Manchester City’s squad will stick together (Getty)
Maresca was asked if he had read the damning verdict. He seemed to start his answer by admitting he had not, before changing tack. But, eloquent as he was in stating City’s case, that prove the beginning of the end for many at the Etihad.
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