A high-profile member of Pep Guardiola’s staff at Manchester City has delivered a sweary message of defiance in response to the club’s guilty verdict.
City were found guilty of breaching 114 Premier League rules by an independent commission last month, as the panel found them to have used ‘sham’ sponsorship deals to boost they earnings by around £900m between 2009 and 2018.
The club have now appealed that verdict as they insist upon their innocence and clim they have ‘irrefutable evidence’ to prove it, in the form of documents showing that the sponsorship funds came from the Abu Dhabi government rather from their owners.
READ: Ten Manchester City grounds for appeal and why they won’t wash
The initial three-man commission has already seen this evidence, as it ‘concluded it was an explanation that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme’, but City hope an all-new panel will rule in their favour.
Possible punishments include fines, transfer bans, points deductions and even Premier League expulsion, while it’s also been suggested the club should have their titles stripped in a retrospective action.
It appears the majority of City staff members retain trust in their owners, while others are concerned for their jobs having been shocked by the independent panel’s verdict.
“Upset. I don’t know if I will have a job in a few months,” one staff member told The Times when asked to sum up their feelings.
“What’s happened is just mad considering how positive they have been about being cleared,” he added.
But there is a general theme of defiance, from chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, CEO Ferran Soriano, who sent a video via email to every City staff member last week.
“The whole Premier League case against us is based on a single false accusation, that the owner’s personal money was somehow and secretly put into the club via some sponsors from Abu Dhabi,” Soriano said.
“This is just not true. Irrefutable evidence has been provided to the Premier League commission that shows it could not happen and that it did not happen.”
And in a slightly more confrontational message, one of the more established coaches of the Guardiola regime has offered up an X-rated response to suggestions he could have his medals stripped.
“If they [the Premier League] think they are getting my medals back, they can f*** off,” he said.
