Roberto Mancini appeared to admit having “a double contract” while managing Manchester City, but insisted the club are not guilty after being found to have breached Premier League financial rules. Mancini led City to their first Premier League title in 2012 during his four-year spell in Manchester. Now in charge of the Italy national team, he described the scandal surrounding the club as “not a problem that concerns me”.
One element of the case against City is an investigation into payment details for players and managers between 2009 and 2018. The German magazine Der Spiegel obtained evidence that Mancini doubled his base salary of £1.45m by advising a club in Abu Dhabi. Manchester City is not guilty and the fact of having a double contract isn’t my problem but theirs, probably.” Mancini lifted the FA Cup as well as the Premier League during his time at City, the first trophies of Sheikh Mansour’s ownership, laying the foundations for future success.
He left in 2013 after defeat against Wigan in the FA Cup final. City have been found guilty by an independent commission of the vast majority of more than 100 charges related to alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules. City continue to deny wrongdoing and their chief executive, Ferran Soriano, told a meeting of European executives on Monday that the club would fight to prove their innocence.
Soriano declined to comment to reporters in Copenhagen when he arrived for Tuesday’s general assembly of the European Football Clubs lobby group. But in an evening meeting of the EFC’s ruling board, which included two representatives of Premier League rivals, Soriano surprised those present by standing to make a declaration. In an implicit confirmation of the independent commission’s ruling, Soriano told the room he felt he had to make a brief statement.
According to sources at the meeting, Soriano said he wanted to make clear he disagreed with the ruling of the commission, and that he and City were confident of winning their battle. Jean-Claude Blanc, the head of Ineos Sport and chief of international football relations at Manchester United, and Everton’s owner, Dan Friedkin, there in his similar role with Roma, were present as Soriano made his unexpected comment. The verdict of the independent commission has not been confirmed, but has not been denied by City.
The Premier League has not commented or provided any indication of when the judgment will be published.
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