What Pep Guardiola said about Man City case after club found guilty in Premier League 115 charges case

What Pep Guardiola said about Man City case after club found guilty in Premier League 115 charges case originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

With Manchester City under fire for serious alleged financial rule breaches brought down by the Premier League, there has been a review of the last 20 years of their existence at the top of the English football game.

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Although the vast majority of the 2009-2018 period covered by the 115 charges case (City were also charged with not co-operating with the Premier League investigation between 2018 and 2023) fell outside of his time as manager, Pep Guardiola frequently found himself on the front line defending City against a torrent of speculation and vitriol regarding the club's actions.

Guardiola departed this past summer after winning 20 trophies in 10 seasons, replaced by Enzo Maresca. On Friday the Premier League has reportedly found City guilty of the vast majority of the charges.

The Sporting News brings you a look at the most notable things Guardiola said about the charges throughout his time at Man City, and what he claimed the reasons for his departure were this past May.

MORE: Teams who could benefit from Man City potentially being stripped of trophies

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What did Pep Guardiola say about the Man City vs. Premier League case

When the news first broke of an investigation into Man City's financial dealings in 2018, Pep Guardiola was initially played things straight, batting away initial enquiries by pointing reporters towards the club's statement professing their innocence.

However, the articles from Der Spiegel, drawing upon information obtained by the whistleblower Football Leaks alleged that former City manager Roberto Mancini received extra payments in a side deal with Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira. As a consequence, Guardiola was asked about the legitimacy of his own wages in the post-match press conference after City beat Watford 6-0 in the FA Cup final to secure an unprecedented domestic treble in 2018/19.

"Honestly, do you think I deserve to have this type of question? The day we won the treble, did I receive money? Are you accusing me of receiving money?" he replied, incredulously.

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In February 2020, UEFA found City guilty of breaching its Financial Fair Play rules after an investigation prompted by the Football Leaks revelations. "When Manchester City are accused of breaching Financial Fair Play, I ask the board. They explain it to me and I believe them. But I tell them: 'if you lie to me, I will leave and I will no longer be your friend'," he said, as City launched an appeal that was ultimately upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

With City's two-year Champions League ban overturned, Guardiola got on the front foot on the matter for the first time. Jurgen Klopp, then at Liverpool, called City's successful appeal "a bad day for football", while Jose Mourinho, Tottenham boss at the time, said it was a "disgrace".

"Jose and other managers should know: we were damaged; we should be apologised to. We have the right to defend ourselves when we believe what we have done is correct. Three independent judges said this. It was a good day for football as we play with the same rules as all the clubs in Europe," Guardiola began.

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"Liverpool, United and Arsenal are not comfortable [about us] being here [in the elite]. But we deserve to be here – we don't have to ask permission to be there."

"We were damaged. The people say we cheated and were lying – and many times. The presumption of innocence wasn't there. It would be nice [for the innuendo to stop] but I don't think so. What happened in recent years — how many times people came to our club to whisper about us — I would love it to finish."

But things were long from finished and, in February 2023, the weighty Premier League chargesheet dropped. Guardiola remained strident at a press conference before City faced Aston Villa.

"My first thought is we're already being condemned," he. "It's the same with UEFA, we were already condemned. The club proved we were completely innocent. In the end, I know fairly that what we won we won on the pitch. We don't have any doubts."

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Guardiola even at one point agreed out in the open that he would stay with the club in the event they were forcibly relegated on his watch.

"People say 'what happens if we are relegated?' I will be here," Guardiola said in 2024 after signing a contract extension.

When navigating the end of his final season at the club, Guardiola seemed more resigned to the process playing out, but still reiterated his belief that the club was innocent. "I trust them," he said in May of 2026. "I spoke with them and trust how they behave and how they did. What happened, happened."

Upon his eventual departure, he joked that he would return to Manchester to speak on the results of the investigation once it had finally come to a conclusion.

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"If you find me, yeah, but that will be difficult," he said, tongue in cheek.

What did Pep Guardiola win at Man City?

Pep Guardiola won an incredible 17 major trophies during his time at Manchester City.

Each consecutive step up at Man City under Guardiola felt like building on the back of the previous success, as they gained steam and continued to pulverize opposition in more and more dominant fashion.

Their first Premier League title under Guardiola in 2017/18 came during the final season of the span of time which has been thrown into question by the 115 charges, which stem from 2009 to 2018. Since then, he was a public-facing figure who was determined to defend his employer's actions as the club continued to achieve more and more success at the top of the English game.

* Won via penalty shootout

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Why did Pep Guardiola leave Man City?

After nearly 10 years in charge of the club — an eternity in today's managerial era — Pep Guardiola stepped down as Man City manager in the summer of 2026.

The Catalan said felt he no longer had the energy to continue pushing forward at the Premier League side, having overseen the start of an extensive rebuild during his final 18 months in the role. He signed off with a second-place finish behind Arsenal in the Premier League, plus success in both the Carabao and FA Cup finals.

"I'm really satisfied, happy, and proud, and it has been the experience maybe I would say of my life, otherwise it would not have been 10 years," Guardiola said at the time. "It's the time. It's not I go to sleep one night and wake up the day after and say 'now is the time to leave.' It's the process that I felt for a while, and always the club respected me unbelievably for the decision. The club has to be, of course, ready.

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"This job is every few days over many many years — Selhurst Park, Anfield, Madrid, FA Cup," before moving his hands all over to signify significant travel plus wear and tear on him. "I think the club needs a new manager, new energy with these incredible players we have right now, and start to write another chapter."

While Guardiola himself only gave vague explanations for his departure, The Sporting News reported at the time that the City boss was exhausted.

"I don't know the reason. I think it's very personal," the source close to Guardiola said. "I suppose he's very tired after 10 years. His family is far away; he's been in the same place for 10 years. He's already achieved complete success — he doesn't need to prove anything."

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