If we end up in League Two we’ll get Summerbee and Dickov
PEP JOKE EASES ETIHAD TENSION
PEP GUARDIOLA joked that he already has a plan in place should Manchester City be demoted to League Two or the Conference – re-sign Mike Summerbee and Paul Dickov to lead the fightback.
It was a nice line that brought smiles in the middle of an impassioned reply to the allegations of financial chicanery that rocked City this week.
But there was no doubting his seriousness when he claimed that, following the announcement of the Premier League investigation into the club’s financial affairs, he was going nowhere.
In a barnstorming pressconference performance, his first since City were charged on Monday with more than 100 alleged breaches of financial rules, Guardiola was defiant, attacking and confident.
He insisted City were innocent and will prove that to be the case, however long it takes. “Hopefully the reason they are going to sack me is the results,” said Guardiola.
“It is the reason managers leave their position or stay but I’m not moving from this seat.
“I can assure you, more than ever, that I want to stay.
“Sometimes I have doubts, seven years already is a long time in any country. Now I don’t want to move.
“They [the club] didn’t lie to me. Look what happened with UEFA [three years ago].
“I said to them, ‘What happened? They said ‘Pep, we did nothing wrong’.We proved it – it is the same case.
“Why should I not trust my people? Why should I trust the CEOs or owners of the 19 clubs, the nine clubs like it was with UEFA?,” Guardiola added, referring to the top-flight rivals who wanted his team thrown out of Europe. “No, I trust my people.”
The chance for City to clear their name will not arrive quickly, given the massed ranks of expensive lawyers being assembled on either side of the battlefield.
But Guardiola said there was confidence at the club that having defeated UEFA in the courts against the same charges in 2020 – their appeal against a two-year Champions League ban was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and a £26.8million fine reduced to £8.9m – they will do so again.
“If we’ll go to the low divisions, no problem,” said Guardiola.
“We’ve been there before. We’ll call back Paul Dickov, Mike Summerbee and make a good process.We’ll be back I’m sure.
“But they should wait because we’re going to defend ourselves as we did in the UEFA situation.”
City have held talks in London, with the club hierarchy jetting in from Abu Dhabi, to work out their position and Guardiola has spoken to CEO Ferran Soriano and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.
“I’d say they are more confident [of winning], maybe they have more experience,” said the Spaniard.
“What happened on Monday was a lot of words, a lot of noise, but I have the feeling that everyone is going to do the job.”
City now need to kick-start their response with a win over Aston Villa tomorrow.