Nocturnal 
Enzo Maresca has insisted Manchester City’s trophy haul is “absolutely not” tainted, despite the club being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules.
The Manchester City head coach faced the media for the first time since the verdict emerged, speaking ahead of Sunday’s trip to Anfield to face Liverpool. He was flanked by the club’s chief communications officer rather than the usual press staff, underlining the sensitivity of the occasion.
An independent commission concluded that more than £830million (around €980m) of owner funding had been used to inflate City’s revenues between 2009 and 2018, enabling the club to comply with Premier League and UEFA financial regulations through what the panel described as “sham” arrangements. According to reports, City were found guilty on 114 of the charges, though some outlets have described it as “more than 100” breaches.
City have strongly denied wrongdoing and lodged a formal appeal, arguing the commission’s judgment contains “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact” and is “unsafe”. The club says it has “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” to support its case.
Asked directly whether the honours won during the period in question had been devalued, Maresca was unequivocal.
“Absolutely not. I know the effort from the players, the club and the manager at the time, Pep [Guardiola], so I don’t have any doubt about that.”
Maresca, who worked as Guardiola’s assistant during City’s 2022-23 treble-winning season before returning this summer to replace him as head coach, said his faith in the club was unshaken.
“I trust the club because I trust the people, and this is also the reason why I joined the club. There is not another club in the world where I would like to be.”
He said he would rather address the detail of the case “when we win the appeal”, and confirmed he had not personally read the commission’s findings. Asked whether he would have still taken the job this summer had the guilty verdict already been public, he replied: “One hundred per cent.”
What happens next
City’s appeal is expected to be heard and ruled on in the coming months, with the club facing a range of possible sanctions if it fails, from points deductions and expulsion from the Premier League to being stripped of titles won between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.
Not everyone connected to City’s recent history shares Maresca’s confidence. Former City captain Vincent Kompany, who won four Premier League titles at the Etihad before taking charge of Bayern Munich, said he loved his time at the club but that his focus now was solely on his current job when asked about the verdict.
City return to action on Sunday away at Liverpool, kick-off 4.30pm, in what is expected to be a hostile atmosphere at Anfield. Maresca said the squad’s attention remained purely on football.
“We understand the seriousness of the situation, the noise. We just need to manage that.”
For now, City’s trophies from the period under scrutiny stand as officially recorded, with the final outcome resting on the appeal process still to come.
