Pep Guardiola: ‘Everybody wants Manchester City to disappear off earth’

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes all their rivals are rooting hard against them in a legal battle against the English Premier League over 115 Financial Fair Play (FFP) breaches they’ve been accused of.

“I am sorry to say I always want to defend my club – especially in these modern days,” he said. “It’s like everyone doesn’t expect us to be not just relegated, they want us to disappear off the face of the earth,” Guardiola said on the eve of City’s richly anticipated Premier League meeting against Arsenal.

“I would say we have had many better days than our opponents – and that’s why we win a lot. It’s not complicated,” he added.

In February 2023, the EPL had stated that City – title holders over seven of the last 10 years – had breached the FFP in a staggering 115 instances. The charges date back all the way to 2009 and go all the way till 2018. City have since denied the charges and a hearing by an independent commission on the matter began earlier this week in London.

If proven guilty by the independent commission in what is to be a strictly private hearing, City can face the following punishments as per the FFP guidelines:

• A formal warning
• Fines (amount depending on severity of breach)
• Points deduction (amount depending on severity of breach)
• Refusal of revenue from UEFA competitions
• Prohibiting clubs to register new players to their squads for UEFA competitions
• A limit of the amount of players that can be registered in a club’s squad for UEFA competitions
• Disqualification from an ongoing UEFA competition
• Exclusion from future UEFA competitions

Currently, City sit second in the 2024/25 season’s league tally, one point behind Liverpool but with a game in hand. Arsenal, who finished second last season, are fifth with three wins from four games.

Both City and Arsenal, who have been vying for English football’s biggest title over the past couple of years have been touted to fight it among them this season as well.

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“If you let Arsenal play, if you accept that, they build up, you allow time to come with [Jurriën] Timber or Alex [Oleksandr Zinchenko] or whatever the player there, to make a structure in the middle, how they move good in the pockets,” Guardiola said ahead of their encounter.

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