Manchester City players received direct message from Etihad Stadium officials over 115 charges as trial begins

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City squad were issued with a very clear message from two of the Etihad Stadium’s leading officials upon the club receiving their 115 charges.

The Premier League first charged the Etihad Stadium club with more than 100 breaches of its financial rules following a four-year investigation back in February 2023, with proceedings in front of an independent commission beginning on Monday.

Back in February 2023, the English top-flight referred Manchester City to the independent commission over alleged rule breaches between 2009 and 2018, whilst also accusing the club of not co-operating since the investigation started back in December 2018.

In direct response, and in a stance that has been maintained by the club since, Manchester City said at the time that they were both “surprised” by the charges, and are also supported by a “body of irrefutable evidence”.

In a new revelation into the immediate aftermath of the charges emerging, one ex-Pep Guardiola star has revealed the reassurance that was provided to him, the wider first-team squad, and much of the organisation by leading club bosses.

Speaking exclusively to Aadam Patel of MailSport this week, former City defender Aymeric Laporte revealed, “When I was there and the news broke, the sporting director (Txiki Begiristain) and the CEO (Ferran Soriano) came and told all the players and staff that we can all be very calm because not one rule has been broken by Man City.

The Spain international continued, “They told us everything was fine so that’s why we all think City will be fine. I don’t think there will be any issues. Like Pep Guardiola always says, if something wrong has been done, they will have to pay for it.”

Pep Guardiola has often been questioned on the charges and asked for his thoughts on the conduct of the club, with the Catalan consistently defending the organisation and his colleagues, referring onlookers to the now-ongoing independent commission.

Speaking most-recently during a press conference, Guardiola said of the case, “Wait for the decision. It’s not more complicated. I don’t know if he [La Liga president, Javier Tebas] is a lawyer, or all Premier League teams are lawyers. So wait!

“It happened with UEFA. If we did something wrong, we believe not, so we go to the independent panel.”

Pep Guardiola is referring to July 2020, when Manchester City successfully overturned a two-year ban from European club competitions and cleared of “disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions”.

Uefa first issued their own ban on the club in February 2020, after ruling that Manchester City had committed “serious breaches” of Financial Fair Play regulations between 2012 and 2016.