Guardiola ruled out of next job as FA threaten Man City in 58-word statement | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola will not be the next England manager thanks to a legacy tainted by Manchester City’s breaches of financial fair play as the FA deliver a strong 58-word statement on the independent commission’s findings.

The Premier League has confirmed that the independent panel has found City guilty on all charges related to breaches of their financial regulations over a nine-year period.

It was found that City had arranged “sham” contracts with commercial partners to inflate revenues and reduce costs to the tune of over £900m.

City maintain their innocence and are expected to appeal the ruling but the so-called ‘irrefutable evidence’ that the club bosses insist will prove their innocence is, well, refutable.

We wait to learn the Premier League punishment and just how much City will have to pay their rivals in damages. It could all be over by January.

Etihad Airways have piled further pressure on the Premier League, threatening legal action over the ‘damaging implications’ of the commission’s findings, while making a telling blunder in their 307-word statement.

Expulsion is one of several punishments available to the independent commission, but 15 of the 20 Premier League clubs would have to vote in favour of such a punishment for it to be carried out, meaning City could get off scot-free.

There’s now ‘a cloud hanging over’ the City Football Academy and palpable nerves among the players, who may have legal recourse to ‘rip up their contracts’ according to leading barrister Paul Gilroy KC.

Guardiola baulked at suggestions that he – like Roberto Mancini – held a ‘double contract’ at the Etihad when directly asked about it in 2019.

But although there is as yet no suggestion that the Spaniard was involved or had any knowledge of the club’s foul play, Guillem Balague, who wrote ‘Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography’, insists there is now no chance of him becoming the next England manager.

Balague told talkSPORT: “Do you know that, for two months, Pep Guardiola made the England FA wait to see if he wanted to be the England national manager?

“And instead of that he stayed at Manchester City, renewed his contract and then they went for Tuchel. In my mind, he was always going to be a candidate post-Tuchel.

“Right now, I don’t think the FA will want to bring somebody in that divides the world – or England anyway – in the way that Pep Guardiola will do from now on.

“There’s no doubt that this is going to happen whatever the consequences of the investigation and the cases, but I don’t think he will want to be the England national manager either.

“Because he probably feels that there is far too many people interested in his legacy. But in his eyes, it was a really good job.”

Balague’s comments came on the back of the FA – English football’s governing body, who pick the England manager – delivering a strongly-worded statement on the findings of the panel.

‘The Independent Commission’s decision has significant implications for the integrity of the game,’ the FA wrote. ‘We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate.

‘As proceedings between the Premier League and Manchester City Football Club remain ongoing, we do not intend to comment further at this stage. We will, however, continue to monitor developments closely.’