No one can take away Manchester City’s trophies and medals, regardless of the outcome of a Premier League investigation into the club, according to Pep Guardiola.
The champions have been charged with 101 breaches of competition rules and will face an independent commission that may recommend sanctions, from docking points to expulsion. That means City are at risk of being stripped of their six titles since being taken over by Sheikh Mansour and the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008.
Guardiola says the charges have “damaged” the previous triumphs under him and his predecessors Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini. Asked if he would have the same emotional attachment to the trophies City have won during his tenure if charges are proven, Guardiola said: “Those moments belong to us. They absolutely belong to us, regardless of the sentence they belong to us.
“The goal from Sergio Agüero [in 2012], when Balotelli slipped. I don’t know if we are responsible for Steven Gerrard slipping at Anfield. Was that our fault? I have respect for Steven Gerrard – but that moment belongs to us.
“The moments that we lived these years together, the Premier League will decide … but I know what we won and the way we won it. I know the effort we put in. If something happened in 2009 or 2010 it is not going to change one second.”
One of those titles was won in dramatic fashion on the final day of last season against Sunday’s opponents at the Etihad Stadium, Aston Villa, who gave up a two-goal lead allowing City to pip Liverpool to top spot by a solitary point and earn a fourth Premier League medal for Guardiola.
City’s head coach has been reassured that the club have done nothing wrong by the hierarchy, aiming for a similar conclusion to when Uefa banned them for two years from the Champions League for “overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts” between 2012 and 2016, only for the decision to be overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. However, any Premier League sanction – unlike Uefa’s – would not be subject to a Cas ruling.
“What I can say is I am proud of my owners, of my chairman, and the relationship we have had, this time together,” Guardiola said. “I have relied on them [and what they told me] a lot in the past, now you can’t imagine.
“If they want me here I will be here. The results are not good, they will put me out because it is a business where you have to win. But if they want me I will not let them down and my players, too. I want to convince them that what we have done, we have done and they won’t remove it.”
Following last Sunday’s loss to Tottenham, City will be aiming to return to winning ways against Aston Villa and put the focus on football for 90 minutes as they attempt to challenge Arsenal for this season’s title. “We have to defend our position and the way to do it is on the pitch, that’s the only way, and the way we have done it all the time,” Guardiola said.
