{"id":787824,"date":"2026-09-30T21:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787824\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T21:14:10","slug":"i-am-here-more-than-ever-guardiola-backs-manchester-city-owners-over-guilty-verdicts-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787824\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I am here more than ever\u2019: Guardiola backs Manchester City owners over guilty verdicts | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pep Guardiola has thrown his support behind Manchester City after the club were found guilty<\/a> of all charges of breaching Premier League financial rules over a nine-year period, telling fans: \u201cWe will get through this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guardiola left City in the summer after a trophy-laden decade in charge, with his first two seasons falling within the period investigated by the independent commission. The Spaniard remains a close ally of the chief executive, Ferran Soriano, who brought him to England, the pair having previously worked together at Barcelona. City maintain their innocence and are set to appeal against the decision before Friday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want every single Manchester City<\/a> fan across the world to know I am here; more than ever,\u201d Guardiola posted on social media. \u201cI am, always have been, always will, be behind my club, my owner, my chairman, Ferran, the players, staff, Enzo [Maresca] and you, our unique supporters. Let me be clear: we will get through this together. I love you all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty trophies were won in the 10 years Guardiola managed City and he was frequently asked about the charges that hung over the club for much of his tenure. The 55-year-old has consistently reiterated his faith in what he was told by the club\u2019s Abu Dhabi ownership while the investigation was ongoing, with charges first brought against the club in February 2023<\/a>. \u201cI trust them,\u201d Guardiola said in May. \u201cI spoke with them and trust how they behave and how they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon Guardiola\u2019s departure, it was confirmed that he would continue as a global ambassador for City Football Group, which involves him giving \u201ctechnical advice to the clubs in the group, working on specific projects and collaborations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the former City chair David Bernstein has described the situation at the club as \u201cbeyond awful\u201d and called for the board to stand down. \u201cI can\u2019t think of a penalty strong enough for this, really. I mean, this is absolutely terrible,\u201d said Bernstein, who was chair between 1998 and 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to raise another question, and that is the position of the board of directors. Because the directors \u200cof the club, including the chief executive, who\u2019s been there for years and went \u200cthrough this period, are responsible for the running of the club in every respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this was a public company of some sort, the directors would have to stand down or be suspended pending the outcome of all this, appeal or no appeal. I don\u2019t \u200cthink the present management can credibly continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9e Jeglertz, the Manchester City Women\u2019s head coach, insisted that it had been a case of \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d for his team as they prepare to host Real Madrid in the Women\u2019s Champions League on Thursday. Asked if he echoed Guardiola\u2019s position and if he would back the club in spite of the Premier League\u2019s guilty verdict, Jeglertz said: \u201cDefinitely. I\u2019m working [at] this club now, and that\u2019s definitely what I\u2019m hired for, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Swede declined to comment further when asked if he had been given any assurances that the women\u2019s team would not be affected by the matter.<\/p>\n

Jeglertz insisted his side, who won the Women\u2019s Super League title last season<\/a>, were focused only on football, saying: \u201cWe haven\u2019t changed anything, we just keep on doing everything we normally do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pep Guardiola has thrown his support behind Manchester City after the club were found guilty of all charges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":787825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-787824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}