Pep Guardiola is confident that Man City will be cleared after they were charged by the Premier League with 115 breaches of their Financial Fair Play rules.
Guardiola has previously has said that he would leave Manchester City if accusations they had broken the rules were proven to be true.
Man City previously had a European competition ban for breaching UEFA’s FFP regulations overturned. This followed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2020.
The new charges relate to a nine-year period from 2009.
Guardiola said: “My first thought is we’ve already been condemned, as happened with UEFA. We had accusations. The club proved we were completely innocent. You know what side I am on.”
Guardiola, speaking at a press conference ahead of facing Aston Villa this weekend, further criticised some outside parties for being quick to pass judgement.
He said: “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 know we are going to defend our position.”
Guardiola claimed his players will not be affected by the matter.
He said: “We have trained like normal to try to beat Aston Villa. The court will dictate what happens. I am fully convinced that we will be innocent.”
There have been reports the FFP matter could take years to resolve, but Guardiola is confident his work will not be overly affected by a potentially long investigation.
He said: “This happened with UEFA. I don’t think we are going to talk about this every single day. We just have to focus on the pitch.”
Guardiola insisted he had no intention of quitting his job.
He said: “I am not moving from this seat, I can assure you. I want to stay more than ever.”
Guardiola believes the charges have been driven by rival clubs.
Asked if this was the case, he said: “Of course – it is the Premier League. I don’t know why. You have to ask the CEOs, Daniel Levy, these kind of people.”
He added: “These 19 Premier League have set a precedent. What they [rival PL clubs] have done to us, be careful with that.
“Be careful in the future. Many clubs can make suggestions and there are a lot of clubs that can be accused, like we have been accused.”
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