Pep Guardiola spent nearly four years telling anyone who asked that Manchester City had done nothing wrong. On Tuesday, an independent commission decided otherwise.
The Premier League confirmed on 29 September 2026 that City had been found guilty of almost all of the 115 charges of financial wrongdoing brought against the club in February 2023. In a statement, the league’s chief executive, Richard Masters, said the ruling set out how the club “systematically broke Premier League rules for nearly a decade.”
The commission found that City had arranged what the league described as “sham” contracts with commercial partners to inflate revenues artificially, and had misstated its accounts to disguise the true state of its finances. According to the league, the schemes overstated the club’s income by more than 830 million pounds between the 2009/10 and 2017/18 seasons.
City said it was “disappointed and surprised” by the outcome and confirmed it would appeal, with the deadline to lodge that appeal set for Friday, 2 October. The club has maintained throughout that a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” supports its position.
The verdict throws Guardiola’s long record of public defence into sharp relief. His position, repeated across countless press conferences, was always the same: he trusted City’s leadership, the club deserved the presumption of innocence, and he would accept whatever an independent panel decided.
That stance was tested early. In May 2019, after City completed a domestic treble, Guardiola bristled when asked whether he had received payments outside official channels. “Did I receive money for another situation, right now, today?” he said. “Honestly, do you think I deserve to have this type of question?”
He pointed then to the assurances of chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano. “They tell me we are fair and we absolutely follow the rules; I believe them,” Guardiola said. He also warned that his loyalty had limits. “If you lie to me, the day after I will not be here,” he said. “I will be out, and you will not be my friend anymore.”
His faith appeared vindicated in July 2020, when the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a two-season Champions League ban and a 30 million euro fine that UEFA had imposed. Guardiola argued the club had been wronged. “We were damaged,” he said. “The people say we cheated and were lying. The presumption of innocence wasn’t there.”
When the Premier League announced its 115 charges in 2023, Guardiola drew the same parallel. “What’s happened since Monday is the same as what happened with UEFA,” he said. “We have already been condemned.” He added that City lived in “a marvellous country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”
Even so, he consistently said he would respect a guilty finding. “Just in case we are not innocent, we will accept what the judge and the Premier League decides,” he said in early 2023, while asking what would restore the club’s reputation if it were cleared.
As the hearing neared in 2024, his tone was almost impatient for closure. “I am happy it starts soon, and hopefully it finishes soon for the benefit of all of us,” he said. Pressed on whether he would walk away if City were found guilty and relegated, he refused to engage. “I will answer when I have the sentence,” he said. “You are questioning as if we have been punished.”
By May 2026, as he announced he would step down as manager, Guardiola offered a settled version of the same message. “I trust them,” he said of the club’s leadership. “I spoke with them and trust how they behave and how they did. What happened, happened.”
The commission has now delivered the sentence he kept deferring to, and the consequences remain open. The Premier League said the sanction would be determined at a separate hearing. Its rules allow for penalties ranging from a fine to points deductions or expulsion from the division.
There is no automatic pause while an appeal runs. The points deductions handed to Everton and Nottingham Forest in the 2023/24 season took effect immediately, though both related to single breaches rather than a catalogue running past 100. That precedent has fuelled speculation about the scale of any punishment, but the league has confirmed no figure, and City’s appeal must be heard first.
What is settled is the finding itself. After years in which Guardiola staked his word on the club’s innocence, the panel he repeatedly said he trusted has ruled against it. Whether that ruling stands, and what it costs City on the pitch, now rests with the appeal and the sanction hearing to follow.