Pep Guardiola proved there’s no soul left in Man City project after cheating judgement

Was Pep Guardiola not so innocent after all?

Former Manchester City manager rubs his chin and looks worried. — (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Not to suggest that Guardiola’s ignorance of all matters relating to City’s numerous indiscretions would have entirely salvaged the substance of their now severely polluted achievements.

However, if you’re a Manchester City fan, you’d be reassured, to a certain degree, by knowing your greatest ever manager had no knowledge of what was transpiring behind the scenes.

You’d be reassured to know that the 55-year-old’s integrity had not, unlike the Sky Blues’ ill-gotten gains, been tainted. Because this is the problem now, isn’t it? As David Lynch noted on X on Wednesday afternoon, we now have to question: “what did he know?”

In 2022, Guardiola said of these accusations/his owners: "I said to them, 'If you lie to me, the day after I am not here. I will be out and I will not be your friend any more.'"

Yet he's still backing them in the face of this judgement, so the question now is: what did he know? https://t.co/rkW67CwBVZ

— David Lynch (@davidlynchlfc) September 30, 2026

Make excuses if you wish, but how on earth could the ex-Barcelona boss still be totally behind his former employers after such a firm denouncement from the Premier League? You’d surely stay quiet for the time being, at the very least until after City’s impending appeal has been lodged and answered.

After allegations of fudging the sponsorship numbers to such a horrifying extent were brought to the attention of millions of rightly irate Premier League fans, you’d hope, as a Manchester City fan, to be able to underline the purity of the project on the pitch in stark contrast to the murkiness off it.

Yet it very much seems like the lines have become blurred.

Rodri and Co. have tried to separate pitch from boardroom

Rodri holds the Premier League trophy on open top bus celebration with Man City teammates. — (Photo by Jess Hornby/Getty Images)

They always express the confidence that they never did something wrong and we believe in that,” Rodri told the press last week.

“Until the moment they are proved wrong, we will believe the club. They always tell us the confidence they have on the innocence.”

The Spain international went on to add: “What we did, they cannot take out of us.

“It’s something that is not paid by money. It’s paid with effort, with the damage, with, you know, being shoulder to shoulder every day.

“I can tell you that everything was deserved, and I’m glad that I could live one of the best eras of English football in here.”

Now, look, I believe Rodri believes he was told the truth about matters of City’s innocence.

If you’ve looked into the numbers around City’s finances being competitive in comparison to Real Madrid’s and Liverpool’s, one could argue you should at least have some doubt about what your employers are telling you, but that’s by the by.

We can accept that Rodri and his fellow teammates were more focused on matters on the pitch instead of what was going on in the boardroom.

But we’re struggling to accept that same separation – of pitch and boardroom – extends to the former manager, the man who more closely bridged the gap between pitch and behind the scenes. And with such an overwhelming body of evidence – while bearing in mind Pep Guardiola’s prior insistence he would not be made a fool of by the club’s owners – you now have to wonder if the legendary coach knew a little more than he was letting on.

In that case, there truly is no separation between pitch and boardroom; no scrap of soul Abu Dhabi sponsors haven’t tainted. A shame, if this is indeed the case, for a managerial icon held as an example above the rest. Innovator, pioneer and, now, willing cheat?

What a depressing day for football.