Pep Guardiola defiant about role as Man City manager | 'I can assure you'
By Sean Walsh
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.
City are not expected to be handed punishments for the alleged breaches in the near future, but it is believed that there is no limit to what kind of sanctions they could face.
Financial penalties and points deductions have been widely tipped as the most likely punishment, but they may also be stripped of previous titles and even expelled from the top flight.
But Guardiola, who has previously insisted that he would leave City if they were ever found guilty of rule-breaking and lying to him, said he does not plan on leaving the club.
"I am not moving from this seat, I can assure you. I want to stay more than ever. After many, many years in the Premier League I do not want to move on," he said at an intense press conference on Friday.
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"[If City are charged and punished] we will be back. We will get Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee and be back."
Guardiola also stated at his press conference that he felt City had "already been condemned" even though the independent regulatory commission is yet to hear the case.
"My first thought is we have already been condemned," the Spaniard said. "What happened is the same as what happened with UEFA, when we had accusations. The club proved we were completely innocent, why should we think now, when there are just charges? You know what side I am on.
"We are lucky we live in a country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty. It seems like we have already been sentenced. What is going to happen, I don't know. We think we have good lawyers and I we are going to defend our position. Time will depend what happens. We will see what a judge, the Premier League decides. In the same way with UEFA, we are innocent.
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."