Manager Maresca says he has complete trust in Man City despite bombshell verdict

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manager Enzo Maresca defended Manchester City’s ownership on Friday following the club being found guilty of financial wrongdoing in the biggest scandal in Premier League history.

Maresca said he had complete trust in City’s hierarchy, and dismissed suggestions the club’s unprecedented dominance of English soccer was tainted by the bombshell verdict that it artificially inflated its revenue by more than $1 billion to help sign some of soccer’s biggest stars.

“I completely trust the club in this moment, in the future, always,” Maresca said in his first news conference since the findings of an independent panel were published last week.

“The reason why I joined this club is because I completely trust 100% the owner, the CEO, the sports director, all the organization, so I don’t have any doubt about that.”

City is accused of providing misleading information about its finances over a nine-year period from 2009-18 — a span in which it won three Premier Leagues and signed players like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne.

Maresca was speaking ahead of City’s league match with Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

Unsurprisingly, the focus was on the verdict, which found the United Arab Emirates-backed team committed almost all of the 115-plus violations it was accused of during a period in which City changed the landscape of the world’s most popular soccer league.

City has always denied the charges and has lodged an appeal.

“I would like to speak about this situation when we’re going to win the appeal,” Maresca said.

Asked if the verdict tarnished City’s success over more than a decade of dominance, Maresca replied, “Absolutely not.”

He was hired at the end of last season when Pep Guardiola stepped down after a trophy-laden 10-year tenure.

Maresca was Guardiola’s assistant during the 2023 season when it won a treble of trophies: Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

Possible sanctions include a massive fine, points deduction or even expulsion from the league.

Asked if he still would have taken the job had the verdict come out before he became manager, Maresca replied, “100%.”

“I know the organization from years ago and I know how serious they are. I know that they do the right things.

“I trust the club because I trust the people, and this is also the reason why I joined the club. And then there is not another club in the world where I would like to be, so I’m very happy to be here.”

Maresca’s immediate job is to focus the players’ minds ahead of the trip to Anfield.

“We completely understand the seriousness of the situation. I’m not saying that we don’t understand that. We understand, the players understand. But it’s our duty, our job, to try to control the noise,” he said.

“For me and for the players we can control just the pitch side, the field side. So we are focused on that.”

Premier League managers react to verdict

Manchester United coach Michael Carrick, who was part of the team that lost the title to City in 2012, said the verdict had “thrown up a lot of questions.”

“It’s affected me personally in different ways over a period of time,” he said.

Asked about the possibility of United retrospectively being awarded a Premier League title if City is stripped of honors, he said “it doesn’t change the emotion of that moment. Can’t get that back, won’t get it back.”

Coventry coach Frank Lampard, who briefly played for City towards the end of his career, echoed that thought.

Lampard did not win a trophy with City but was a multiple title-winner with Chelsea.

“I have titles and I don’t have my titles hanging on my wall at home but I have them in my head,” he said. “So I think it would be very hard to take someone’s title away as a player individually because I think they should be in your head as opposed to in this beautiful glass cabinet or whatever.”

Kompany not dwelling on former club’s alleged indiscretions

Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany, who played for City from 2012-19, offered guarded support for the club’s achievements at the time while also distancing himself from the controversy.

Kompany said on Friday he was “100% focused” on Bayern and that didn’t leave him time “to dwell on other things.”

“But for me, it’s actually quite simple — I played there for 11 years, and I stand fully behind what we achieved on the field and the feeling we shared as a group of players during that time,” he said. “Everything else, I have to be honest, it feels a bit far removed from my reality at the moment.”

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AP Sports Writer Ciarán Fahey in Berlin contributed.

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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

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