{"id":797471,"date":"2026-10-09T22:54:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T22:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797471\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T22:54:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T22:54:20","slug":"maresca-refuses-to-confirm-he-will-stay-at-manchester-city-if-club-lose-appeal-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/797471\/","title":{"rendered":"Maresca refuses to confirm he will stay at Manchester City if club lose appeal | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Enzo Maresca refused to confirm he will remain as Manchester City manager should the club lose their appeal against being <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2026\/sep\/25\/manchester-city-found-guilty-of-breaking-premier-leagues-financial-fair-play-rules\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">found guilty of the vast majority<\/a> of 115 charges related to breaches of the Premier League\u2019s financial rules.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Maresca was speaking publicly for the first time since the verdict that has thrown English football into turmoil. City continue to deny any wrongdoing and their appeal is expected to be heard before Christmas, with a verdict due in the new year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In May 2022, Pep Guardiola said he would leave the club if he discovered the club\u2019s hierarchy had not told him the truth about their financial dealings. \u201cI said to them: \u2018If you lie to me, the day after I am not here. I will be out and I will not be your friend any more.\u2019\u201d Maresca was asked if he shared the same position as his predecessor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cI would like to speak about this situation when we\u2019re going to win the appeal,\u201d the 46-year-old said. \u201cIt\u2019s no sense to speak about anything because I don\u2019t have many pieces of information. I trust the club because 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. I\u2019m very happy to be [here], I\u2019m very proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The manager was asked if his trust may change should the appeal be lost. \u201cBut it\u2019s the same. I don\u2019t know. We are predicting the future. Again, I\u2019m worried about tomorrow, in two days, in three days,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening in the future. The only thing I can say is that I think it\u2019s fair, from my point of view, from all of us, to respect the process. The process, verdict. There is an appeal ongoing. We see what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">One sanction that might be levied against City is expulsion from the Premier League. Guardiola joked that he would manage City in League One or even the National League. Maresca refused to be drawn on that scenario. \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/video\/2024\/apr\/30\/leicester-celebrate-championship-win-on-and-off-the-pitch-video\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">I won the Championship with Leicester<\/a> [in 2023-24]. So in case we [are in] League One, we\u2019re going to see. We are thinking about something that we don\u2019t know,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Maresca also denied that the many honours City have won under the current ownership are now tainted. \u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d he said. \u201cThe last time I was here was in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/football\/2019\/may\/18\/manchester-city-win-treble-watford-fa-cup-final-match-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">treble season<\/a> [2022-23, as assistant manager] and I know the effort from the players, the club, the manager. I know the effort that the club put to achieve that kind of target so I don\u2019t have any doubt about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"#EmailSignup-skip-link-8\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |Every weekday<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-vf9hps\">Sign up to Football Daily<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-djbwnz\">Kick off your evenings with the Guardian&#8217;s take on the world of football<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791586460_528_500.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"dcr-gx9601\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-8\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">City lead the Premier League having taken maximum points from their opening five games and travel to Liverpool on Sunday. Maresca has no concern that the uncertainty regarding the club\u2019s future will affect them at Anfield. \u201cWe understand the seriousness of the situation. I\u2019m not saying that we don\u2019t understand that,\u201d he said. \u201cThe players understand. But it\u2019s our duty, our job, to try to control the noise. Also, the manager and the players are focused on winning games, not on something different.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIt is nice \u2013 at this moment, we are top of the league. So the players have all the reasons to be happy and excited. It will be a tough game for sure. But the most important thing is that we continue to do the right things. We are on the same page with the players, the owner, the CEO, the sport director and the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Maresca was asked if referring to the guilty verdict as \u201cnoise\u201d was dismissive of the anger felt towards City from sections of the wider football community. \u201cI understand the reason why most of you are here,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the only thing I can say is that is something that I already said, that there is a process ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Maresca said Erling Haaland was fit after the striker asked to come off last weekend with Norway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enzo Maresca refused to confirm he will remain as Manchester City manager should the club lose their appeal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-797471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-gb","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797471","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=797471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}