There were several months of tension inside Manchester City, but the final resolution ended up favoring them. After their case was escalated with the TAS, it was determined that the evidence presented by UEFA was insufficient to ensure that they breached the Financial Fair Play.
For that reason, the punishment of two seasons without European tournaments was withdrawn and the fine only focused on the economic. They were penalized with 10 million euros due to their stance during UEFA investigations. The sky blues they felt singled out and sentenced by the highest European body. And since they wanted the process to be carried out by someone outside / outsiders, they were reluctant to UEFA requests.
Once the ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport was known, Pep Guardiola, coach of the Etihad club, came out to talk about the matter with much more ease. And he took advantage of the questions received to send a forceful message to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, which apparently are clubs that, behind the scenes, have sought to penalize Manchester City.
THE RECADO OF PEP GUARDIOLA
“What we have done, at this club for the last decade, was on the court. I know that elite clubs, like Liverpool, Manchester United and especially Arsenal, are uncomfortable with us being here, but they have to understand that we deserve to be here. We want to jump on the court and compete against them, and try to achieve things like they did in the past, decades ago, and what we have done this decade. We deserve to be stronger year after year. We tried. The amazing people who work in this club, in this organization … they work incredibly hard to make this club better. To make our fans and ourselves proud. We don’t have to ask permission to be here. We deserve it. And when we lose, I will shake hands with my opponent, my colleague, and congratulate him, as we have done in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. We always have. So guys, accept it. We want to be here and we try. And on the court, we play as much as we can. Sometimes we win, sometimes we don’t. And if you don’t agree, come knock on the door of our owner, the CEO, and chat. Don’t go behind whispering ‘let’s do this, let’s do that’. Seven, eight or nine clubs doing this from behind. Go, go, and do it on the court. Come on, try. No, from behind. This is not a 10 year old club. In 10 years we have taken a step forward. We invest a lot of money, like many other clubs, huh. But we did the right thing in these 10 years. Because if it had not been so, we would have been kicked out of the European competitions. And we are not out, because we follow the rules of the Financial Fair Play, the rules that UEFA and FIFA have decided. “
Manchester City fans. This is your manager.
An impassioned speech from Pep Guardiola on respect for the club. #ManCity pic.twitter.com/6UiHprctRp
— BBC RM Sport (@BBCRMsport) July 14, 2020
Undefeated Data. Pep Guardiola has won 8 titles as DT of Manchester City. With him as DT, they became the first club to lift domestic poker in the same year: League, Cup, League Cup and Super Cup.
Did you know…? Manchester City has been a 4-time Premier League champion in the past decade. They also have the record for the most points (100 points) in the same English League campaign.
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