Pep Guardiola agrees with Tebas' assertion that Premier League teams are pushing for Man City's punishment in 115 charges case

CITY FOOTBALL ACADEMY, MANCHESTER — Manchester City's manager, Pep Guardiola, believes that many Premier League clubs are hoping to see the reigning champions face punishment as they head into a trial over multiple alleged rule breaches. Guardiola remains focused on the team's performance despite the ongoing legal proceedings.

City and the Premier League will begin making their cases before an independent commission on Monday, September 16. The arbitration hearing will bring a conclusion to the now-infamous "115 charges" — a closer inspection of City's rap sheet reveals 130 — that the Premier League brought against the club in February 2023. A verdict is expected in early 2025.

The charges include allegations of City disguising ownership funding as sponsorship revenue. If found guilty of the most serious charges, a range of punishments from points deductions to City being expelled from the league are theoretically on the table.

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La Liga president Javier Tebas has been a regular and vocal critic of City's ownership model since Sheikh Mansour, the vice-president and deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, took control of the Manchester club in 2009. On Thursday, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo, Tebas said: "I have spoken with many Premier League clubs and most of them understand that City should be sanctioned."

The outspoken administrator's interventions have generally been to Guardiola's chagrin, but he saw the funny side of being in agreement with his old foe on this occasion.

"Maybe he's right and all the Premier League teams want this. I agree with Tebas for the first time, and maybe the last," Guardiola said.

"That's why I say to Mr Tebas and the Premier Leagues teams: wait for the independent panel. Justice is there in a modern democracy so wait for the decision, it's not more complicated than that.

"I don't know if he is a lawyer or the rest of the Premier League teams are lawyers but we had this with UEFA many times. We go to an independent panel and we wait."

The case against City stems from documents published by whistleblowers Football Leaks, which formed the basis of a 2018 series of articles by German publication Der Spiegel.

UEFA found City to be in breach of its rules and banned the 10-time English champions from its competitions for two seasons in 2020. City successfully appealed that punishment at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, although they still had to pay a €10 million fine for not cooperating with UEFA's investigation.

Tebas added that City were "acquitted by the CAS for a formal matter" in an apparent reference to the time-barring within UEFA's own regulations. This is partly true, as claims against City's sponsorship arrangement with Abu Dhabi telecommunications company Etisalat were time-barred. However the CAS panel found, by a majority of two to one, that City's main sponsor Etihad "fully complied" with its agreed payments to City during a period where time-barring did not apply.

There is no explicit time-barring element within the Premier League's rules, but they are constructed in accordance with English law and its associated statutes of limitations.

"I'm happy it starts on Monday and I know there will be more rumours about the sentences that come up, and we're going to see," added Guardiola, who has masterminded an unprecedented level of success at City since taking over in 2016, winning six Premier League titles in seven seasons.

"I know what people are looking for; I know what they are expecting. I know it because I have read it for many years. But I've said everyone is innocent until guilt is proven. So, we will see."