Enzo Maresca Insists Manchester City’s Titles Are Not Tainted After the Club Was Found Guilty on 115 Charges

• Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca says the club’s titles are “absolutely not” tainted, after an independent commission found City guilty of all charges relating to financial rule breaches between 2009-10 and 2017-18, including sham contracts and more than £830m in disguised funding.
• Maresca says he “completely” trusts City’s owner, chief executive and sporting director, and believes the club will win its appeal against a verdict City’s own statement called unsafe and containing “clear material errors.”
• City play their first match since the verdict away to Liverpool on Sunday, where Maresca could become only the fourth manager to win his first six Premier League games in charge of a club, walking into what he expects will be an even more hostile Anfield reception than usual.

“I Know Exactly the Effort the Club Put In”

Enzo Maresca spent Friday’s news conference fielding questions on the verdict that has hung over Manchester City since an independent commission found the club guilty of all charges relating to breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. The panel found City guilty of using sham contracts and misleading accounts as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m. Asked directly whether the ruling had tainted City’s trophies, Maresca rejected the idea outright, relaxed as he delivered his answer. He said he knows “exactly the effort that the club put in to achieve” those titles.

City have appealed against the verdict. The club said in a statement that the commission’s ruling contained “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe.” Maresca reiterated his own faith in that appeal succeeding throughout Friday’s press conference, even as he declined to confirm whether he had personally read the commission’s findings.

“The Right Moment to Speak Is When We Win This Appeal”

“The reason I joined this club is that I completely trust, 100%, the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, all the organisation. So I don’t have doubt about that,” Maresca said. “I spoke with the club for sure. We all trust, and probably the right moment to speak about that is when we are going to win this appeal.”

He drew a clear line between what he can influence and what he cannot. “For me, the players, we can control just the pitch side, the football side. So we are focused on that. This is what we can do and what we can control,” he said. In an in-house interview on Thursday, Maresca had already struck a similar note, saying the “feeling is fantastic” among his players and that the squad is not affected by “the noise” surrounding the club.

A Record Run Into the Most Hostile Away End in the Country

The verdict lands at an awkward moment for Maresca personally. Appointed as Pep Guardiola’s successor in June, he is in his third spell at City after earlier stints with the academy and as Guardiola’s assistant coach, including during the Treble-winning 2022-23 campaign. The 46-year-old has won each of his first five Premier League games in charge, and a win at Liverpool on Sunday would make him only the fourth manager to win his first six matches of a spell in charge of a club in the competition’s history.

City’s trip to Anfield is their first match since the verdict was announced, and the panel’s finding that the club disguised payments through sham contracts means Maresca’s side can expect an even more hostile reception than a normal away day at Liverpool already brings. “It will be a tough game, for sure. We need to be ready, the focus needs to be about the game, but we know the environment at Anfield,” Maresca said. “It probably will be worse because of the situation but, again, it will be our duty to do our best and try to win the game. The reason I decided to become manager is for this type of game.”

Amid the questions on the verdict, one journalist asked Maresca about team news instead, a question he thanked them for. He confirmed Erling Haaland is “ready” to face Liverpool after recovering from his efforts for Norway during the international break in Marbella.

“It Wasn’t a Problem for the Club at the Time”

Maresca, who previously managed Leicester City and Chelsea, said the charges against City were never raised during his conversations about taking the job over the summer. Asked whether he would still have accepted the role had the commission’s findings been public before he agreed terms, he said he “100%” would have. “We didn’t speak about that because I don’t think it was a problem for the club at the time and I think they are thinking in an honest way,” Maresca said. “I think they are convinced that in the end we are going to win the appeal.”

Vincent Kompany, the former City captain now managing Bayern Munich, offered a shorter, more detached view when asked about the verdict on Friday. “I played 11 years for the club and I’ve loved all the years I’ve played for the club. Everything we’ve achieved and done on the pitch I’m really proud of,” he said. “Everything else, as a player you’re not a part of that. Right now, as a coach of Bayern Munich, I’m not too occupied with that topic.”

For Maresca, there is no such distance available. He inherited a club mid-verdict, has kept his unbeaten start intact through five games, and now takes his team to the one ground in English football where Friday’s ruling will be loudest in the stands. Whatever the appeal eventually decides, Sunday at Anfield will not wait for it.

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.

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