Is it just me or is Pep sounding like he’s not quite so convinced that City did nothing wrong? He’s gone from insisting they did no wrong to ‘innocent until proven guilty”. And he’s talking about there being a case, and about a punishment like it is inevitable. Bring it on.
“It’s a good question,” the manager said at a press conference on Friday. “I will answer when I have the sentence [decision]. You are questioning like we have been punished. And in the moment we are innocent until guilt is proved. I know the people want it. I know, I feel it. I will wait. Wait and see it and after the sentence has been done we will come here and explain it”.
“But absolutely I will not consider my future [if] it depends on being here [Premier League] or being in League One. Absolutely. There is more chance to stay if we are in League One than if we were in the Champions League.”
Guardiola is clear that Everton’s case is different to City’s. The Merseyside club were found to overreached their allowed losses by £19.5m. One of the main accusations the treble winners have to answer is of inflating sponsorship deals.
“What people accuse us of we do not agree with,” Guardiola said. “We are going to defend [ourselves] and after the resolution is done, I will be here, like a spokesman for my club. I want to say the case for Everton, and I don’t know what happened, but only I know from the lawyers and people at my club is that they are completely different cases … I know when people are saying: ‘OK, City - why don’t they go to the Conference?’ Wait. Wait. And after what’s going to happen is going to happen.”
