An increasingly frustrated Pep Guardiola had no new information to offer over the ongoing delay relating to the verdict in Manchester City’s seismic legal battle with the Premier League over the alleged breaches of more than 100 financial regulations.
In response to the interminable weight, which casts a shadow over all City’s subsequent achievements in the eyes of many, Guardiola sniffed: “They must be so busy.”
City were first accused by the Premier League in February 2023 of breaching 115 rules which largely related to the division’s financial fair play (FFP) rules from 2009–18. During this period they won three top-flight titles. The club were also deemed to have failed to co-operate with various Premier League investigations from 2018–23.
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A clerical error in the tallying up of these regulations has since led to suggestions that City’s alleged breaches lie at 130, although the figure of 115 is more widely used.
City deny all allegations.
The underlying accusation at the heart of the Premier League’s case is that City’s owners falsely inflated their revenue so that they could continue to spend without making a loss which would be a break of the FFP rules at the time. This artificial increase of their earnings allegedly came in the form of favourable sponsorship agreements with companies they either owned or had a controlling interest in.
City have also been accused of hiding how much they spent, with the financial remunerations for one of their managers supposedly undisclosed to ensure he was paid more than officially declared.
Guardiola was appointed by City in 2016 and only the first of his Premier League titles (2017–18) falls into the window of financial scrutiny. However, as the club’s figurehead for the past near decade, the Catalan coach has faced the brunt of questioning surrounding this subject since the case was first made in 2023.
The hearing between City and the Premier League was held from Sept. 16–Dec. 6, 2024 but no verdict is yet in sight. Guardiola previously predicted in February 2025 that it would be “one month” before the independent panel’s conclusion was finally delivered. Almost a year on, the City boss was not in the mood for another guess.
“It’s the same question I ask you, so I don’t know. I don’t know,” he moaned when presented with queries about the case. “Maybe you have better info than me. You don’t have?
“I would love to have it, but I don’t know. I don’t know. The same answer to your question is the same you answered me one, two, three years ago. So they must be so busy.”
If City are found guilty their punishment could be anything from a fine to multiple relegations. There is no precedent for a case of this magnitude in English football. Given the dramatic repercussions which could be cascade across the sport, a sense of hesitancy is perhaps understandable.
