Manchester City are the talk of the footballing world after being found guilty of 114 financial breaches by an independent commission, with managers across the Premier League reacting to the news ahead of the return of club football.
An independent commission, which was appointed following a four-year investigation to rule over the charges which stretch between 2009 and 2018, ruled that the current Premier League leaders had “sham contracts” arranged for a number of its commercial partners, disguising funding that amounted to more than £900m.
City, who vehemently protest their innocence and have launched an appeal against the verdict, face a trip to Anfield on Sunday in what is expected to be a hostile atmosphere, with Liverpool one of the teams who have lost out to City the most in seasons gone by.
Ahead of the first Premier League action since the news broke, managers up and down the country were asked for their views on City. Here is everything they had to say:
Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca:
“I trust the people and this is also the reason why I joined the club. There is not another club in the world where I would like to be. So I’m very happy to be here. I’m very proud. I said many times since day one.”
Asked if he would have joined City even if the independent commission had already ruled against them, he replied: “One hundred percent, yes. I know the organisation from years ago. I know how serious they are. I know they do the right things. I would like to speak about this when we’re going to win the appeal.
“No, we didn’t speak about that [when he was taking the City job] because I don’t think that was a problem for the club in that time. Also, because they are thinking in an honest way. I think they are convinced that in the end we want to win the appeal.”
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta:
“Fully understand the question, but I will respect the process, I think the timelines, it is still an ongoing process that is not resolved because it has been appealed. My position and the club’s position is not to make any further comment until it is resolved. It is a lot of noise around it and it is an ongoing process that is not resolved yet. I think we need to respect it. There is nothing in our hands and the only thing we can do is focus on everything that we can do. That is where we put the energy.”
Asked if the verdict with inspire current league leaders City in their title push, Arteta replied: “I don’t know, that’s something that’s not in our hands. In our hands it’s the way we have prepared, since all the internationals are back, to be in the best possible condition, to be better than Leeds tomorrow and beat them. That’s where the focus has been.”
Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola:
“I think uncertainty is not good for anyone involved but there is the process ongoing and we have to be patient like everyone else and see what happens at the end. No one knows what’s going to happen.
“We have to focus on Liverpool and being the best club we can be, the best team we can be. That’s my challenge. My opinion is not valid because I haven’t spent that time and I haven’t read as much as they’ve [the commission] done.
“I think the challenge of the game is so high that I don’t think players think too much outside of this. They are thinking ‘I have to mark this player’ or ‘I have to go and deal with this one’ or ‘I have be at this level because the level of the game is so high’. They will be focused on those things. Obviously they will have their own opinions but I think they will be fully focused on what happens on the pitch.”
Manchester United boss Michael Carrick:
“Very difficult to say in many ways. It’s thrown up a lot of questions, some have had answers, some haven’t. As it’s still ongoing, and we don’t how long it’s going to go, there’s only so much I can say.
“Certainly I’ve got my own questions about it, it’s affected me personally in different ways over a period of time. But as the case is going now I don’t know where that stands and how it’s going to end up, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
“What I will say, the sooner it gets sorted I think for everyone’s benefit is essential. There’s so many angles to look at from so many different perspectives, but really speed is essential for everyone to be clear, to be able to deal with it, to be able to move on whatever happens, I think.
“It’s unprecedented, you know, a unique situation to be in this, at this level with such a huge impact in so many ways. So, we all need to know what’s going to happen, really.”
Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso:
“For sure it is a decision but we need to be patient. We need to wait for the final sanctions from the panel. I think they are independent enough to assess all the situations.
“I am not an expert, whatever I say and whatever opinion I have they are the ones to take it. We need to respect the decision and we have to be patient for sure.
“We need to wait for the final announcement on the actions and we will see what happens. It is out of our hands, we have to respect the independence of the panel and see what happens.”
Asked whether his players are speaking about the verdict, he said: “I don’t think so. We don’t have information. Our situation doesn’t change. We need to focus on our own situation and what we can control. But, for sure, we will see what happens in the right moment. We need to be respectful.”
Tottenham boss Roberto De Zerbi:
Tottenham’s press officer announced no questions about Manchester City would be accepted, but De Zerbi was asked about his experiences of being a player in Italy during the Calciopoli scandal. De Zerbi saw this as a ploy to get him to speak about City: “What do you mean? Manchester City? You want to arrive to Manchester City? Listen, I was crazy as a player. I don’t remember my thoughts.
“When you are a player, you don’t think too much and when you are a coach, the same because the focus is on your player and especially now because we are at the bottom of the table. I have no time to think to the other problems than my team and my club.
“I think there are people who have to decide who takes the decision with responsibility, with courage and honesty always. It is not my job. My job is to be a coach, but I love respecting the rules like all people in our club.”
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery:
No comment.
Bournemouth boss Marco Rose:
“I’m not this kind of guy who blames someone with not enough information. Of course, I hear everything, I read everything, but I do not have all the information. I trust in the guys who are involved in these kinds of things and situations, and then we will see what happens. I’m a football coach, not a politician, and I love to be a football coach, and it should stay like this.”
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler:
“I can’t control anything from that. The only thing I can really focus on is our preparation, how we are doing, and therefore it is just a distraction, that is not in our hands. Hopefully it will be dealt with but I have enough topics to mention. But let’s see how it goes. I heard there are still some ongoing processes so it is really difficult to say anything now.”
Brentford boss Keith Andrews:
“I think it’s a huge situation for the Premier League to have to deal with. The fact that it’s still ongoing, I think it’s wrong for me to really dig too much into that. I think I should respect where the authorities are with this and trying to come to the right outcome, which I’m sure they will. I think (a quick conclusion) will be the aim and the hope for everybody, that the outcome will be finalised sooner rather than later, for sure. You’ve got to trust the authorities to come up with the right outcome.”
Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage:
“First of all we already played against Manchester City which is why I don’t really have interest to look at them in depth. The second thing is now the facts are here I think it is for a court to make the decision and quickly. I think that is why the court have to make a quick decision. We will see after this first decision because there is another chance to have an appeal.”
Coventry boss Frank Lampard:
“I’ve got a lot of interest in it because I’m a football person, it’s massive news, right? There’s no doubt about that, but when I say that, I’m so invested in what we’re doing. We can’t control anything. Who knows what the result of that may be, whether it will affect us or not. Do I have to consider what effect it has on them? No, because I’ve got enough on my hands to do our job and what we’re doing.”
On the significance of potentially having titles stripped, he said: “I have titles and I don’t have my titles hanging on my wall at home but I have them in my head. A lot of things are out of control but you’re competing against the best and they’re very hard to win. So I think it would be very hard to take someone’s title away as a player individually because I think they should be in your head as opposed to in this beautiful glass cabinet or whatever.”
Everton boss David Moyes:
“I wasn’t here when it was difficult for Everton, when things were bad. Looking at it now from where I am sitting, it looks terrible that we have been docked points and pay some fines and not that long ago. There’s other things that have been going on – nearly 10 years ago – that have not been dealt with. I find that really difficult. I hope it’s not just Everton who are getting picked on here. I think we get picked on by the referees and every other area as well.”
He added: “I have to say off the back [of what he just said that], that Manchester City have helped to raise the level of the Premier League with the level of football that they have played. The managers and players that they have had have been unbelievable. All the managers that went to play against them had park the bus because they were that good.”
Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa:
No comment.
Hull boss Sergei Jakirovic:
No comment.
Ipswich boss Gary O’Neil:
“I have no feelings, I don’t know anything about it, it would be crazy of me to try and give you an opinion on something I know absolutely nothing about. I can guarantee I know less about it than you guys. I would be better off asking you what you think of it probably.”
Leeds boss Daniel Farke:
“It’s not my topic, my topic is football and there are more qualified people to speak about this, so it is not my topic. It is not up to me and I was not involved in the title race in these years. I had different topics to deal with during this time when Manchester City won many titles. I think I just had one home game with them with Norwich, we won by the way, so I can’t complain too much. It also makes no sense if right now everyone in the world wants to have opinions about this topic, there are more qualified people to talk about it. My topic is Leeds United.”
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Newcastle boss Matthias Jaissle:
“I think as a manager of another club I am not able to judge. It’s not my job in my job description to judge on that. There are authorities taking care of it. I think there is a clear process now, which we have followed and, for us, I am speaking on behalf of the whole club, it’s the right approach to focus on what we can influence.”
Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner:
“It has been 24 hours a day. It was just City. I said, ‘Ah, OK, this is the only problem in the world right now’. It’s so big here in England, especially. And I wasn’t here when all these things happened or did not happen, I don’t know. To the appeal, there is no final verdict right now. That’s why I don’t see any point to comment on Man City because I can’t. But let’s say in general, if somebody cheats he needs to get punished. If not, then not. And of course, we all hope for the integrity of the game, for the integrity of the Premier League, that the final word is spoken soon. But we also know, and as I spoke earlier, I think there are thousands of pages to read, and I read a book every night, and it takes quite long to read thousands of pages and also then find the final verdict, so it takes a little bit of time. We have to be patient, but yes, it should be soon.”
Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris:
“There are still ongoing legal proceedings so it’s not for me to comment on that. My position is simple: football has rules, on and off the pitch. You have to respect those rules, when they are broken they should have consequences otherwise it’s not fair. We want fair competition, we want fair game, fair play, so the relevant authorities have to be relentless otherwise you lose the value of the competition. So we’ll see. It happened 10 years ago, more or less. We were not here in Sunderland, for example. But it’s about respecting rules so it’s key because if you don’t have fair competition it’s a bit weird, so it’s more or less the feeling we have in the building.”
PA contributed to this report.
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