Manchester City’s players returned to training on Thursday, nine days after the Premier League found the club guilty of most of the 115 charges against it. The report accused City of using “sham” contracts to disguise more than £830m in secret funding. Despite the ruling, Enzo Maresca, the club’s head coach, said the mood in the squad was “fantastic” and the players were focused on football.
The verdict broke while most of City’s squad were on international duty. Maresca addressed the players upon their return, urging them not to let the controversy distract them as the Premier League resumed. “The players are excited for the next two games,” Maresca said in an in-house interview. “Especially they are excited because in this moment we are top of the league. The players are just focused on that.”
City travel to Anfield on Sunday to face Liverpool at 16:30 BST. Maresca said the players “know what we can control is the football side” and “they don’t care too much about the noise.” He added he felt “calm” and that the squad trusts the club “completely.” City has launched an appeal and maintains its innocence.
Striker Erling Haaland echoed Maresca’s comments to Sky Sports. “I care a lot about this place,” he said. “I spent my first four years here, it’s a special place for us. I care a lot about City and the fans. I am a fan myself. I feel with them.” Haaland leads the Premier League this season with five goals.
He called on players, staff, and supporters to “stick together” and “stay positive.” “No matter what happens in life, we always have to smile. Stay positive, look ahead, and try to win football games and enjoy the situation,” Haaland said.
The ruling has drawn varied reactions within English football. Nottingham Forest manager Oliver Glasner said he hopes the process is concluded “as soon as possible.” Glasner, who coached Crystal Palace during their 2025 demotion from the Europa League for breaching multi-club ownership rules, described the delays in that case as damaging. “The most important thing is the integrity of the league because as soon as the fans can’t trust it, they won’t watch it any more,” he said.
Other managers avoided detailed comments. Leeds head coach Daniel Farke and Newcastle’s Matthias Jaissle declined to elaborate on the matter during pre-match press conferences. Some clubs have instructed their managers not to comment.
Coventry City boss Frank Lampard, who played for City in the 2014-15 season, reflected on the impact on players. “The players will not feel they have lost their titles even if the club is stripped of them because it is part of their personal history,” he said. Lampard won the Premier League three times with Chelsea and made 38 appearances for City after joining them in 2014.
He added, “You are competing against the best in the Premier League, and a lot of things are out of [your] control, but you are competing against the best, and they’re very hard to beat. So I think it would be very hard to take someone’s title away as a player individually, as they should be in your head as opposed to in a beautiful glass cabinet or whatever.”
City’s appeal is ongoing, and no punishments have been handed down yet. The Premier League and its clubs face pressure to resolve the issue swiftly as the season continues.
According to Joy Online.
