Pep Guardiola faces fierce criticism after backing Manchester City over Premier League charges

Pep Guardiola has been accused of being "a fraud, blind or a hypocrite" after publicly supporting Manchester City following the club's conviction by a Premier League independent commission. The Premier League announced that Manchester City had been found to have committed all the alleged breaches relating to the competition's financial rules over nine seasons, between 2009/10 and 2017/18.

The club was also found guilty of three of four charges relating to its failure to co-operate with the league's investigation. The period under scrutiny includes two seasons during Guardiola's time at Manchester City, including the campaign in which he won his first Premier League title with the club.

In a strongly worded column for The Times, journalist Matthew Syed questioned the legacy of the Spanish manager and asked whether he had known about the alleged breaches or simply failed to recognise them. "We now know that he managed a corrupt club, fuelled by corrupt contracts, funded by corrupt companies, during what we can now call a corrupt era," Syed wrote.

Manchester City spent more than one billion euros during the period covered by the investigation, according to the article. "There are two possibilities," Syed continued.

"Either Pep knew, in which case he is not a visionary or a legend, but merely a fraud, or he did not know, in which case he was among the most short-sighted people of all. "I am not a forensic accountant, but I have questioned Manchester City's financial arrangements for more than a decade, despite receiving constant abuse and threats.

Is he blind?" Syed added that there was "of course" a third possibility: hypocrisy. "There is no doubt that Guardiola is a great strategist who has achieved success at several clubs," he wrote.

"But let us be honest: his legacy will remain confined to his time at the Etihad Stadium, where the accountants performed the real magic, not the manager." Guardiola declares support for Manchester City Guardiola issued his first statement on the matter on Wednesday, expressing his full support for Manchester City, where he spent nine seasons and won every available trophy. His achievements at the club included six Premier League titles and one Champions League crown.

"I want every Manchester City fan to know that I am here, more than ever," Guardiola said. "I have always been, and I always will be, supporting my club, its owner, its chairman, Ferran, the players, the coaching staff, Enzo, and you, our wonderful supporters.

"Let me assure you: together we will get through this difficult period."