Pep Guardiola has revealed whether or not he intends to remain as Manchester City manager after the club were charged with 100 breaches of Premier League regulations.
The city is not expected to issue any penalties for the alleged violations in the near future, but it did say what sanctions could be imposed.
Financial penalties and point deductions are widely used as the most likely punishments, but they can be stripped of former titles and even demoted from the top flight.
But Guardiola, who has previously said he would leave City if found guilty of misconduct and lying to him, has said he has no plans to leave the club.
“I’m not leaving this seat, I can assure you. I want to stay longer than before. After many years in the Premier League, I don’t want to continue,” he said.
“[If the city is charged and convicted] we will go back. We will get Paul Dick and Mike Summerby and we will go back.”
Guardiola also said in a press conference that City had “already been condemned” even though the independent watchdog had yet to be prosecuted.
“My first thought was that it had been condemned,” Spain said. “What happened is the same as what happened with UEFA when the accusations were made. The club has proven that we are completely innocent, if only the accused, why should we think now? You know which side I am on.
“We are lucky to live in a country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. It seems that it has been decided. I don’t know what will happen. We think we have good lawyers and we will defend our position. Time will depend on what happens . Judges, Major League. We will see what they decide. This is the same as UEFA, we do not blame.
Among City’s possible sanctions are:
- Suspend a club from playing league matches
- Points deductions
- Recommend to the board that league matches be replayed
- Recommend to the board that the league expels the respondent club
- Order compensation
- Cancel or refuse registration of players
- Conditional punishment
- Order the club to pay costs
- Make such other order as it thinks fit
“The club, they talk to all of us. But we have trained like normal to get ready for Aston Villa. The last seven years have been for us, our fans and our people. The court will dictate what happens. I am fully convinced that we will be innocent.
“In this country, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. UEFA’s sentence wasn’t even that. It is now down to the lawyers of both sides to defend one side and the other one. It will be longer than one month, two months and three months. We know what happened with UEFA and we will see that.”
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