Pep Guardiola has already made assurances about his future if Manchester City are found guilty of 115 charges
The Premier League case will likely dominate Manchester City’s 2024/25 season.
Pep Guardiola has already said that if Manchester City are found guilty by the Premier League in their landmark hearing, it would not result in him leaving the club.
Reports this week have claimed City’s case will begin next month and will be concluded by the end of the season. The Blues face 115 charges relating to financial breaches by the Premier League, allegations the club strenuously deny.
It’s likely the hearing, and its conclusion, will dominate the 2024/25 campaign, and rumble along in the background as City push for more silverware on multiple fronts again this term.
But there’s another major off-field story that will generate plenty of headlines over the coming months: the future of Guardiola. The City manager’s contract expires at the end of the current season and reports have indicated he could step away after nine years in Manchester.
Whether these two seismic stories have an impact on each other remains to be seen, but Guardiola has already made his view very clear on the 115 charges.
“My first thought is that we are already being condemned,” the former Barcelona manager said in February 2023, days after the charges had been brought against City. He pointed to Uefa’s Champions League ban - which was subsequently overturned - and also referenced the nine Premier League sides who opposed City’s initial attempt to suspend their sentence.
“Another side I would say we are lucky we live in a marvellous country where we have a society where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. We didn’t have this opportunity. We are already sentenced and tough. What is going to happen I don’t know,” he said.
Guardiola also claimed ‘the words of my chairman, my CEO, my people’ had assured him of City’s innocence, which will be determined in this season’s hearing.
But what if the Premier League champions are found guilty? “If we have to go to League Two or maybe the Conference. We are not a team with a long history or titles, we have been in the lower divisions and we will be back there,” was the Catalan’s unequivocal response.
“It's not a problem just in case. We'll get Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee and we will do a good process and will be back I’m pretty sure.
“I am not moving from this seat,” a passionate Guardiola stated. “I can assure you, more than ever that I want to stay. Now I don’t want to move. Not because people say ‘they lied to you, Pep’.
They didn’t lie to me. Look what happened with Uefa. I said to them ‘what happened?’. ‘Pep, we did nothing wrong. We proved it’. It is the same case.”
Speaking separately in November last year, Guardiola also claimed he is more likely to remain if City are found guilty.
“Absolutely I will not consider my future [if] it depends being here or being in League One. There is more chance to stay if we are in League One than if we were in the Champions League.”