New Manchester City manager dismisses concern over 115 charges

Shafaq News- Manchester

Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca said he has no personal concern over the club’s unresolved Premier League financial case, more than three years after 115 alleged rule breaches were announced.

“The only thing I can say is three years ago, the Treble season, I was here and it was the same words about this,” Maresca told reporters. “In three years, it’s still the same. Nothing has happened.”

Maresca worked as Pep Guardiola’s assistant when City won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in 2022-23, the same season the league referred the club to an independent commission. He returned as head coach this summer.

The Premier League charged City in February 2023 over alleged breaches between 2009-10 and 2017-18, including inaccurate financial reporting, undisclosed payments, violations of domestic and UEFA financial rules, and failures to cooperate with investigators. City deny wrongdoing and say they possess evidence supporting their position.

A private hearing ran from September to December 2024, but no verdict has been published. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has stated that the independent panel controls the timetable.

City’s Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has declined to discuss the evidence before the ruling, while football finance expert Stefan Borson told talkSPORT that the club’s continued spending and infrastructure investment suggested its leadership expected a favorable outcome. He stressed that this was an inference, not knowledge of the commission’s decision.

Possible sanctions depend on which charges, if any, are upheld. Sky Sports chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol has explained that the commission could impose fines, points deductions, or, in an extreme case, expulsion from the Premier League.