Pep Guardiola denied this day would ever come but two-year Uefa ban could end his Man City dynasty
PEP GUARDIOLA always denied this day would ever come.
Throughout the 15-month saga of Uefa’s Financial Fair Play probe into Manchester City, the Catalan maintained the party line.
City and Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi regime, he insisted, would NOT be banned, no matter what anybody said.
In December 2018, just days after SunSport reported how senior figures at Uefa were demanding “sporting sanctions” — a ban in simple terms — over alleged FFP breaches, Guardiola reflected the club’s belligerent stance.
The City boss promised: “We will not be banned, no.
“That’s what I think because I trust in my chairman, in my chief executive and what they have explained to me.
“If it happens, because Uefa decide that, we will accept it and move forward.”
Three months later, it was a similar story, as Guardiola insisted: “I trust them a lot.
“What I wish is clarification as quickly as possible, for Uefa to see what we have done.
“If it is not good, then OK, we will accept it.”
But, as we saw last night when City opened up all barrels on Uefa’s financial investigator, former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, the club are not accepting anything.
Not that they might have, in any way, done anything wrong. Not that Uefa’s two independent panels have found any legitimate evidence against them.
And certainly not that they are going to accept the two-year Champions League ban and £25million fine.
The club have stuck to their party line, that the Football Leaks document dump which instigated Uefa’s investigation was all about “hacked or out-of-context emails”.
They maintained their innocence last night.
Yet for City fans, including the thousands who will not just boo but turn their backs on the Champions League theme tune, the bigger question — far bigger — is what it means for the architect of the club’s greatest team.
Guardiola wants to win the Champions League, without Lionel Messi in his team, for somebody other than Barcelona.
He sees the ‘Cup with the Big Ears’ as the ultimate validation of any coach.
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Of course, he could win it with City in May.
With the Premier League title already effectively in Liverpool’s hands, Guardiola will target the three trophies he can still win.
Beating Real Madrid over two legs and then going on to become champions of Europe in Istanbul would be the perfect way for City to stick two fingers up at Uefa.
That is even before they unleash the lawyers in a Lausanne courtroom.
But what next for Guardiola, whether they win the Champions League this year or not, if City cannot play in it next term? What about Guardiola’s two closest bosses — Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain?
And what about the club’s owners, Sheikh Mansour and Khaldoon Al Mubarak, whose club have now been branded as financial cheats by Uefa?
After all, Khaldoon had insisted: “We’re going through the appropriate steps and we’re confident in our position — very comfortable.
“I’m not concerned about that because facts will prevail.”
As SunSport reported on Tuesday, Juventus president Andrea Agnelli is desperate to install Guardiola at the Turin giants.
The latest development in City’s brutal and bitter spat with Uefa will only have given Agnelli more belief his managerial appointment dream might be possible.
After all, for all that Guardiola has reflected City’s stance with Euro chiefs, for all that he has spoken of staying beyond a contract that runs out in 2021, he has still not put pen to paper on that new deal.
By the end of this season, he will have been four years on the City bench, equalling the longest tenure of his managerial career.
Just 48 hours ago Guardiola suggested he might be fired, in any event, if he did not win the Champions League.
That is more than unlikely. City want him to stay, not go.
City will throw everything at overturning the decision, as demonstrated by their statement which accused Leterme of having “publicly previewed the outcome and sanction he intended to be delivered to Manchester City before any investigation had begun”. But if the ban IS upheld, Guardiola may feel he has an excuse to move on.
It also raises huge questions for both the current members of the City squad and players Pep was targeting to buy this summer.
City can offer huge money, of course. Yet some targets, including the centre-backs, left-sided midfielder and long-term Sergio Aguero replacement they want, may not fancy two seasons out of Europe.
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And what about the City stars in the peak of their careers, such as Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Aymeric Laporte?
Suddenly the future of City, from top to bottom, looks unclear.
That is how much rides on their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. As the Amazon documentary said, it is All or Nothing.