Man City charges: Enzo Maresca says owners ‘convinced’ club will win appeal against guilty verdict as he ‘trusts’ hierarchy | Football News

Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca says the club’s owners are “convinced” they will win their appeal against an independent commission that found them guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules.

Speaking at his first press conference since the verdict was announced, Maresca insisted he “100 per cent completely trusts” the club’s hierarchy, making him believe “we’re going to win the appeal”.

In his 15-minute press conference ahead of Sunday’s game at Liverpool, live on Sky Sports, the Italian also said:

• Man City’s achievements are “absolutely not” tainted

• “The right time to speak is when we win the appeal”

• Believes everyone is on “the same page” at the club

• Backs his team to handle Sunday’s “even worse” Anfield environment and called for his players to “stick together”

Sunday 11th October 4:00pm


Kick off 4:30pm

The independent commission found that between 2009/10 and 2017/18, Man City arranged “sham” contracts with a number of its commercial partners as part of a “disguised funding scheme” to artificially inflate the club’s revenues by £830m.

Last Friday, City confirmed their appeal because they are “innocent” and described the judgement against them as “opinion” and claimed it “contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe”.

Maresca, who was assistant to Pep Guardiola in the 2022/23 treble-winning season, replaced the Spaniard as head coach this summer.

Asked if he would still have joined the club had the verdict been released earlier, he replied: “I know the organisation from years ago. I know how serious they are. I know they do the right things.”

Questioned on whether the charges issue was raised during talks, he responded: “No, we didn’t speak about that. I didn’t think that was a problem for the club at that time. Also, because they are thinking in an honest way.

“I think they are convinced that in the end we will win the appeal.”

Earlier he said: “The reason why I joined this club is I completely trust 100 per cent, the owner, the sporting director, the CEO – all the organisation. I have no doubt about that.

“I spoke with the club for sure. We all trust it. The right moment to speak about that is when we’re going to win this appeal.”

More to follow…

‘Media masterclass from Maresca’

Sky Sports News’ Kaveh Solhekol:

“I think it was a media masterclass from Enzo Maresca about how to deal with tough questions when you are in the middle of a media storm.

“Man City will be delighted with the way he handled that. It is not good news for journalists because we didn’t really get a moment.

“There are not going to be big headlines that you will say. What I thought was interesting was his body language.

“City will be really happy about that. He was relaxed; at the end of it, he was smiling and joking. He didn’t look like someone who was cornered.

“He didn’t look like somebody under pressure. He kept to the script.

“He gave very little away and just kept saying that he trusts the owners and we have to wait for the appeal. I can only focus on the pitch; we can only control the controllables.

“He was also asked the question about whether it should it be the chairman or CEO doing this press conference, instead of you [Maresca], but again, he didn’t give anything away.”

How will City’s perfect start be affected by verdict?

Sky Sports’ Adam Bate:

Anfield is famous for its atmosphere, but the mood awaiting Manchester City on Sunday will be unique. What a venue for City’s first game since an independent commission judged they broke Premier League rules between 2009 and 2018. Seismic.

City are appealing, of course, but the Liverpool crowd will deliver their own verdict and expect it to be vociferous. On the pitch, for what that is worth, Enzo Maresca’s City side are defending a perfect record of five wins from five and are currently top of the table.

Andoni Iraola is also unbeaten since taking over at Liverpool but with three draws from their opening five games, this feels like the first big test of his reign – and his team’s own title credentials. Whatever happens, all eyes will be on an Anfield clash to remember.