Man City FFP: Klopp breaks silence on guilty verdict, reaffirms respect for Guardiola | OneFootball

Former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has broken his silence on Manchester City’s FFP guilty verdict, while also insisting he maintains the utmost respect for Pep Guardiola in the wake of financial wrongdoing.

City have been found to have engaged in a £900m scheme to either inflate revenues or reduce costs through a series of ‘sham’ arrangements, in order to avoid breaching league and UEFA financial regulations from 2009-2018.

The eight-time Premier League champions are facing the prospect of severe sanctions, although City remain defiant and immediately declared their intention to appeal the guilty verdicts.

Klopp and Guardiola went toe-to-toe as Liverpool and City engaged in a rivalry that spanned at least half a decade, although it was the latter who ultimately emerged as the victor more often than not.

But despite having missed out on silverware as a consequence of the rules City have been accused of breaking, Klopp still insists he bears no ill-will to his old rival.

The 59-year-old reacted to City’s guilty verdict for the first time during Germany’s preview press conference on Wednesday ahead of a Nations League clash with Serbia.

He said: “I haven’t given it much thought but of course I’ve seen it. I also know what I said about it – that if there’s ever a parade, I’ll be there andso on. It doesn’t feel like that anymore.

“My respect for Pep Guardiola and the football played at City during the time we played each other – the way they played back then, the way they brought football to life on the pitch and what an opponent they were for us at the very highest level is far too great for me to be able to say anything now.

“Should any sanctions be imposed, I naturally have nothing to do with it anyway, and that’s why I’m waiting to see how things pan out.

“But when you’re talking about legal proceedings that have been going on for so long now, you can well imagine… I assume there will be an appeal or something like that? That will take ages again.

“So I’m a long way from preparing myself for it in any way and I don’t have any feelings about it.

“It’s not as if I need that right now, just so I can say ‘I’ve been English champion a few more times’. I’m completely fine with what’s happened and what we’ve achieved.

“We battled it out on the pitch, and I can’t say anything about the rest of it because I don’t know exactly what it’s all about.

“To be honest, I’m not particularly interested in it either.”

Carragher calls for two major City punishments

Meanwhile, Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher thinks there should be two massive punishments for City after the guilty FFP verdict.

Carragher has argued that City’s titles “should be taken off their list”, though he is unsure whether they should be redistributed.

“The thing about medals, I do think Manchester City’s titles they’ve won in this time, or trophies, should be taken off their list,” Carragher told Sky Sports.

“I do believe that whether other clubs should get them is probably slightly different.

“But what Manchester City have done is, they’ve not just hurt their own players in terms of no one looks at their trophies and medals now in the same way, and never will.”

He continued: “But the players that were talking about getting medals, I’ve been very lucky to win a few medals. I don’t look at the medal, I never look at the medal years later, but what happens is my mind goes back to a moment, I get a feeling in my stomach.

“I remember the referee blowing a final whistle of a big game, I remember Jerzy Dudek saving the penalty, that feeling I got.

“Those players will never get that feeling and it was robbed by Manchester City. That’s what they haven’t got. I don’t think any player will care if you go and give them a medal, and he puts it in the house, in his trophy room, he’ll never look at it.”

Carragher also believes that Man City’s owners should be forced to step down because he cannot see how they “can continue after what’s happened”.

“We talk about a fit and proper test for owners. What they’ve done for 10 years – and left this stain that will be there for the next 10 years – it starts because they don’t like the word no. When you see the statements – the one from Soriano last night – it’s beggars belief what you’re hearing,” Carragher added.

“They have so much power and finance behind them, nobody ever tells them no. Until they move away from the club, I don’t know how this stain is removed from the club. City will move on – they will have great teams in the future.

“But I don’t see how the ownership can continue after what’s happened here and their reaction to it. How can they be surprised? They’ve got irrefutable evidence – well where is it? Put it out there.”