Manchester City Defiant Despite Champions League Ban

“We did cooperate with this process,” Soriano told Chris Bailey, a former journalist with The Manchester Evening News who referred to the club as “we” and “us” in his questioning of Soriano. “We delivered a long list of documents and support that we believe is irrefutable evidence that the claims are not true. And it was hard because we did this in the context of information being leaked to the media, in the context of feeling that every step of the way, every engagement we had, we felt that we were considered guilty before anything was even discussed.”

Manchester City already has announced its intention to appeal the verdict at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. An earlier appeal to the court was rejected because UEFA had, at that point, imposed no punishment, but in that ruling CAS labeled the leaks about Manchester City’s finances “worrisome.”

In his comments Wednesday, Soriano made an effort to differentiate his feelings about those who investigated his club from his relationships with UEFA as an institution, and suggested UEFA also stood to lose from a protracted fight about the case and the way the investigation was conducted.

“I personally know many people that work at UEFA very hard, for the benefit of UEFA but also for the benefit of clubs of UEFA like ours and for the benefit of football,” said Soriano, who previously worked at Barcelona.

“If the negative experience we had and the way this process went is negative, it’s negative also for them. UEFA is much bigger than this F.F.P. chamber.”

It is unclear how things will unfold now that UEFA’s administration will begin direct involvement in the case. UEFA failed to mount a defense when a decision by the adjudicatory chamber last year was challenged by Paris St.-Germain, another Gulf-owned team accused of overspending. UEFA also came to an agreement with Italy’s A.C. Milan before the CAS was able to make a determination in yet another F.F.P. case.

Whatever the resolution, the stakes are high. The penalty assessed to Manchester City is the most significant punishment UEFA has handed out in the decade since it created its financial fair play regulations, and if upheld its consequences for Manchester City’s balance sheet and its competitive future could be severe. Participation in the Champions League is worth about $100 million a year to the club, and missing out on it could factor into the career decisions of some of the team’s star players, potential signings and even City’s coach, Guardiola.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/sports/soccer/manchester-city-champions-league-ban.html