‘Manchester City will accept ruling on 115 charges’ says Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has insisted that Manchester City will accept the results of the hearing into their 115 charges.

The Premier League charged City in February 2023 with more than a century of breaches of their financial rules between 2009 and 2018, while the current champions have always maintained they are innocent.

Their case will start to be heard this autumn with the outcome expected before the end of the season and potential punishments, if found guilty, including fines, point deductions, relegation or expulsion from the division.

But Guardiola claimed City will not contest the verdict as he said it will be better for everyone when a conclusion is reached.

He said: “I am happy that it starts soon and hopefully it will finish soon, for the benefit of all of us, especially the club but also other Premier League clubs and all the people who don’t wait for the sentence.

“I wish, from the deep in my heart, go to the trial, the independent panel - and I say again, independent panel - and as soon as possible, release what happened and we will accept like always we have done.”

Guardiola is confident that his players will not be distracted by the backdrop as they go for an unprecedented fifth successive league title. “No, we have been talking about that for three or four years,” he added. The case is coming to a head now but the City manager said: “That’s good. We know it is going to happen, we accept it and focus on our matches.”