Why Pep Guardiola Is Returning to Etihad Stadium to Watch Man City

Pep Guardiola continues to ally himself with Manchester City in the wake of the club’s guilty verdict for breaking Premier League financial regulations.

Guardiola stepped away as manager after 10 years with City at the end of last season. He maintained public support for the club throughout the Premier League’s investigation and independent panel hearing. The Spaniard also maintains a close working connection with the club as a global ambassador for the wider City Football Group parent company.

Guardiola has not attended a City match this season, but BBC Sport reported that is expected to change next week when back-to-back reigning European champions Paris Saint-Germain visit the Etihad Stadium. Guardiola is set to be there as a spectator, cheering for his former team like the 50,000–60,000 or so other supporters.

In what will be City’s first home match since the verdict and the Premier League’s statement referring to “sham” contracts and close to a decade of sustained financial cheating—which the club continues to fiercely deny—it is a significant show of support from the former boss.

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It remains to be seen if he will spectate from the shadows or be paraded in the spotlight.

When the verdict was formally published last week, Guardiola took to social media to firmly make clear his position on the matter. “I want every single Manchester City fan across the world to know I am here; more than ever,” he posted on Instagram, alongside a picture of himself with long-serving club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

“I am, always have been, always will be behind my club, my owner, my chairman, Ferran [Soriano], the players, staff, Enzo [Maresca] and you, our unique supporters. Let me be clear: we will get through this together. I love you all.”

When he was preparing for his final game as manager in May, Guardiola had said of the club and the conduct of those above him: “I trust them. I spoke with them and trust how they behave and how they did. What happened, happened.”

Why Guardiola Has to Maintain Man City Support

The majority the charges related to a time before Guardiola was appointed in 2016, with the first accusation of financial cheating dating back to the 2009–10 campaign. But the Spaniard ended up being the main beneficiary, equipped with an expensively-assembled team that became the first in the history of English soccer to achieve 100 points in a season.

There is no suggestion that Guardiola, his coaching team or players did anything wrong, going about their daily jobs on the training field and on the pitch. But his and their successes, even that which came in the seasons that followed the 2009–2018 period—including an unprecedented four in a row, cannot be separated from what was going on behind the scenes, because the financial conduct was what made all of that possible.

The way City went about business, against the Premier League’s rules with the “sham” contracts artificially driving up revenue and increasing spending power, provided the platform from which Guardiola created his dynasty.

For him to deviate from anything other than full public support would be to admit there is an asterisk on everything he achieved.

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