Manchester City head coach Enzo Maresca has dismissed the idea that the club's trophies are tainted after an independent commission found it in breach of Premier League financial rules. Asked directly at his first press conference since the ruling, he answered: "Absolutely not." The Guardian and Yahoo Sports both covered the session.
Maresca was an assistant to Pep Guardiola in the 2022-23 treble season. He told reporters he knows how much effort the players, the club and the manager put in, and that he has no doubt about it.
The verdict and the appeal
Yahoo Sports reported that the commission found City guilty of more than 100 breaches. According to that account, the panel concluded that owner money worth over £830 million ($1.09 billion) was routed through sham arrangements between 2009 and 2018, letting the club satisfy Premier League and UEFA requirements. The Guardian put the charge total at 115 and said City were found guilty of 114 of them.
City strongly deny wrongdoing and have appealed. The club has said the judgment contains clear material errors of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe, and that it holds a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence. The Guardian noted that expulsion from the Premier League is one sanction City could face if the appeal fails.
What Maresca said about trust
Maresca was flanked by chief communications officer Simon Heggie rather than the usual press officer, Yahoo reported. He repeated that he trusts the club and its people, and said that trust is part of why he joined. He said he would have taken the job "one hundred per cent" even if the commission's decision had come out before his arrival.
He said the charges were not discussed during his talks about the role. In his telling, the club did not see that as a problem because it was being honest with him and is convinced it will win the appeal. Asked whether he would walk away if he learned he had been misled, he said he would address that once the appeal succeeds. He also admitted he has not read the commission's findings.
The Guardian's live blog recorded one wobble: Maresca said he trusts the club "at the moment", then clarified that he trusts it always. It also reported that he spoke to Guardiola after the derby win over Manchester United last month, but apparently not since the verdict. Asked about possibly coaching City in a lower division, he joked that he had won the Championship with Leicester.
Focus turns to Anfield
City visit Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday. Maresca said the squad is relaxed: the players are 20 to 25 years old, enjoy training, go home happy and are top of the league. He acknowledged the noise around the club and said the staff are trying to manage it while concentrating on the football they can control.
The Guardian's reporter judged that City would be relatively pleased with how Maresca handled roughly 20 minutes of questioning, since he stuck to the club's official lines on unity and confidence in the appeal. Until that appeal is decided, those questions are likely to follow City into every fixture.
Reporting sources: Sport | The Guardian, “Maresca says Manchester City titles ‘absolutely not’ tainted; Mourinho defends Mbappé – live” · sports.yahoo.com, “Maresca has ‘complete trust’ in Man City: Achievements not tainted”.