UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules: What the Premier League managers said after Manchester City’s verdict
UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules: What the Premier League managers said after Manchester City’s decision
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In a sensational decision, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favour of Manchester City and overturned their two year UEFA competitions ban. However, the reaction from the world has been largely against Manchester City and UEFA with a few Premier League managers reacting the same way.
Pep Guardiola started things off:
The Spaniard's side was set to face life without Champions League football for the next two years despite having qualified for next year's tournament with their second place confirmed and expressed his joy at being able to play in Europe's top competition.
"We can play in the Champions League next season because what we have done is right, is proper. The Court of Arbitration for Sport cleared City of "disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions" and cut the club's fine from 30m euros (£26.9m) to 10m euros (£9m). [I'm] incredibly happy for the decision which shows what all the people said about the club was not true and to defend on the pitch what we won on the pitch.
"Like I said many times, if we did something wrong we would accept the decision of Uefa and Cas because we did something wrong. We can defend ourselves. We have the right to defend ourselves when we believe what we have done is correct," added the Spaniard.
Jose Mourinho chimed in:
The former Manchester United and Chelsea boss had a lot to say about his former colleague's comments and admitted that if Manchester City were 100% innocent of the charges, then they wouldn't have been fined the ten million euros.
"It's a disgraceful decision because if City are not guilty of it then you are not punished with 10 million (euros). If you're not guilty you shouldn't have a fine. If they are guilty the decision is also a disgrace and you should be banned from the competition. I don't know if Manchester City are guilty or not but either way it's a disgraceful decision."
Pep’s response to Mourinho’s comments:
"We should be apologised . If we did something wrong, we will accept absolutely the decisions. We have the right to defend ourselves when we believe what we have done is right. Today is a good day for football. If we broke the rules we would have been banned. The club believed what they have done is right and three judges have said we have done it properly. The people who said we were cheating and lying, presumption of innocence was not there."
Mikel Arteta was happy for his former boss:
The former Manchester City assistant coach had a lot of praise for his former boss and even admitted that his now rivals deserve to be in the Champions League because of what they've done on the field and because the officials in charge found them not guilty.
"There is no question about what happened. They completely deserve to be in Champions League because what they've done on the pitch is unquestionable and the regulators have looked at it and have decided that they haven't done anything wrong. So you have the two aspects that are really clear and transparent and they're going to be in Champions League because they deserve for what they do on the pitch and what they do outside the pitch."
But Jurgen Klopp, while happy for City, was unhappy at the verdict:
Unlike Arteta and Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp's response to Manchester City's ban was slightly different because while he revealed that he was happy for the Cityzens and the fact that they can play in the Champions League, at the same time the German admitted that it wasn't a good day for football.
"From a personal point of view, I'm happy Manchester City can play in next season's Champions League, because if they have 12 games less, I don't see any chance for any other teams in the Premier League. I don't wish anything bad on anyone but I don't think it was a good day for football. Financial Fair Play (FFP) is a good idea and it was there to protect teams and the competition, so that nobody overspends and clubs have to make sure the money they want to spend is from the right sources.
"I come from Germany, where it's a different club-based system and it's not an owner system, so as long as they stick to that system, you will never have those problems. It is clear where you get the money from."
Frank Lampard was on the fence:
"I was pretty neutral on it. I don’t know much about the case or the details. I just listened to the result as everyone else did this morning. I genuinely don’t see beyond the games at hand. We want to win them and see if it gets us Champions League football for next season. I was never pinning my hopes on whether it would mean an extra team got into the Champions League. We don’t worry about other teams.”
