Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca has firmly stated that the club’s recent honours remain legitimate despite an independent commission finding them guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Maresca insisted the team’s titles are “absolutely not” tainted after the ruling covered 115 charges brought by the league.
The verdict, delivered earlier in the week, found City responsible for the majority of the allegations spanning the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons. The charges included the use of “sham” employment contracts and misleading financial accounts designed to conceal over £830m in secret funding. However, the club has lodged an appeal, arguing that the commission’s decision contains significant legal, factual, and principled errors and is therefore unsafe.
Maresca, who is preparing his side for their first fixture since the announcement—an away trip to local rivals Liverpool on Sunday—emphasized his complete confidence in the club’s leadership. “The reason I joined this club is that I completely trust, 100%, the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, all the organisation,” he said. “We all trust, and probably the right moment to speak about that is when we are going to win this appeal.”
He added that while the environment at Anfield is expected to be hostile due to the controversy, his focus remains strictly on the football. “For me, the players – we can control just the pitch side, the football side. So we are focused on that. This is what we can do and what we can control.” Maresca also confirmed that star striker Erling Haaland is fit and ready to face Liverpool after recovering from his international duties with Norway.
The Italian manager, who took over in June following Pep Guardiola’s departure, has won all five of his opening Premier League games in charge. A victory on Sunday would make him only the fourth manager to win his first six matches in a spell at the club. He also revealed he did not discuss the potential for such charges during his summer negotiations, insisting he would have accepted the role regardless.
Other Premier League managers have weighed in cautiously. Bayern Munich boss Vincent Kompany, a former City captain, expressed pride in his playing days but stated he is not preoccupied with the current situation. Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta called for respect for the ongoing appeal process, while Liverpool’s Andoni Iraola and Chelsea’s Xabi Alonso stressed the need for patience given the independence of the panel.
Everton manager David Moyes drew a parallel to his own club’s recent point deductions for profit and sustainability rule breaches. “I hope it’s not just Everton who are getting picked on here,” Moyes said, noting the difficulty of seeing older incidents go unaddressed while recent penalties are enforced swiftly. Nottingham Forest boss Oliver Glasner added that if cheating occurs, punishment is necessary, but acknowledged the lengthy process involved in reviewing thousands of pages of evidence.
830 million in secret funding… that number alone is absolutely staggering. It feels like more than just a few accounting errors to me.
Is this really about fairness though? Moyes raised a good point about Everton. Why are old cases being dredged up now?
What a week for Maresca already! Winning five games and handling all this drama is impressive. Let’s see how they play against Liverpool.
I still think the titles should be removed until the appeal concludes. Trusting management isn’t enough when evidence seems overwhelming.