Manuel Pellegrini has defended Manchester City's spending and hit back at claims they should be stripped of their titles following alleged breaches of financial regulations.
City were charged by the Premier League with over 100 alleged financial breaches last month, following a four-year investigation into activity spanning as far back as 2009. City are alleged to have breached league rules requiring provision “in utmost good faith” of “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position” - claims the club strongly denies.
The span of the investigation covers Pellegrini's three seasons in charge at the Etihad between 2013 and 2016, a spell in which the Chilean won the Premier League in his first season as well as two League Cups. And he believes the prospect of stripping previous titles would be unjust and that criticism of his former side's spending is unfair, given other Premier League clubs have also spent huge money.
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“The criticism is unfair,” Pellegrini told the Guardian. “If there had been an astronomical difference, then maybe, but Chelsea were spending a fortune, Manchester United were spending a fortune, Liverpool, Arsenal. When I arrived, Txiki [Begiristain] and Ferran [Soriano] hadn’t been there long.
"The work City did was very good; it’s not just related to money. For example, they swapped [Roberto] Mancini for me for football reasons. And then [when I left], they said: if it’s not [Pep] Guardiola, it’s you. You work for three years, Guardiola comes: there’s continuity.
"Other big clubs invested but couldn’t do that. We’ve seen teams come up, spend £100m, go down again. And €100m is an amount 18 clubs in Spain can’t spend.
“That league can’t be taken away because it’s been lived – with your fans, at the ground. You were at Wembley, you lifted a cup. Could there be some legal means? I hope not, that everything gets clarified. But that can’t be taken from you. Imagine they take the trophy away, I don’t think the runner-up now feels like the champion. Football is the moment. You win on the pitch.”
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