Manchester City’s Rebuttal Statement is Confusing, Pathetic and Utterly Pedantic

Manchester City Tried to Defend Themselves, But Instead Just Made It Worse

Never before have I seen a top division club in more trouble than Manchester City are in now. Barcelona’s debt issues were previously top of my personal list, but City’s accumulation of sham contracts and failing to cooperate with the investigation have created a whole new list entirely.

And yet, despite being proven guilty on all but one of their 115 charges, a damning verdict that even the best-prepared legal teams would struggle to overturn, Manchester City are still trying to convince us that they are the victims here, evidenced by the statement released by the club on Tuesday.

BREAKING: Man City judgement published by Premier League here:https://t.co/vfvXZN7YQL

— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) September 29, 2026

Hours earlier, the Premier League had released their own statement detailing City’s wrongdoings and what the next steps are, and City, not wanting to leave it unresponded for fear of looking even more guilty, wrote their own.

However, if they were expecting it to help their case, then they should have tempered their hopes, as the club statement was clearly written with great haste and not much thought - lets go through it.

Disappointed and Surprised

Just 161 words long, it is clear that the only motivation of the individual writing the statement was to insist that the club is very much innocent - in fact, every single paragraph emphasises exactly that.

The Premier League’s statement laid out the case against City with devastating precision: beginning the investigation in December 2018, the top flight’s governing body microscopically investigated club finances between 2009 and 2018, and their investigation uncovered almost endless evidence against the Abu Dhabi-backed club.

They confirmed that, amongst other acts, City arranged sham contracts (basically misrepresenting the actual agreement between themselves and another party), deliberately misstated accounts and concealed their true finances from both the clubs' auditors and English football regulators, and ‘committed multiple breaches in its duties of co-operation’ while the Premier League carried out its investigation.

Club statement.

🔗 https://t.co/yrJ8Z0A52Y pic.twitter.com/0NP2k33JT9

— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 29, 2026

Essentially, the club claimed to have earned up to £900 million more in that period of time than they actually did, allowing them to conduct otherwise impossible transfer business, and thus drive the team towards glory adn silverware rather than mid-table mediocrity.

To be caught out and investigated on financial misdeeds is one thing, to be found guilty is another, but to be found guilty despite failing to co-operate with the investigation puts the club's guilt beyond reasonable doubt. Why wouldn’t you co-operate if you are, in fact, innocent?

That is what makes Man City’s official statement so baffling. Their opening paragraph reads, ”Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League commission that has been published today.” After being found guilty of failing to co-operate with the commission on multiple occasions, it is a bizarre way to open a statement proclaiming innocence.

“The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and is disappointed and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all its positions relating to the case. The club will therefore be relentless and, where necessary, proactive in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.”

Where was all this so-called ‘evidence’ during the investigation? Why have you been found guilty of comfortably over 100 charges if you are ‘innocent of the accusations’?

“It gets weirder too, with the next line saying, “The Premier League process is still ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors of law, of principle, and of fact and is unsafe.”

So what if the Premier League process is yet to be complete – if anything, the fact they have been found guilty in spite of the investigation not yet closing is testament to how badly the club got it wrong!

Appealing the decision is simply a way of procrastinating whatever punishment comes their way, buying them time in an attempt to win another few hollow pieces of silverware before justice is finally served.

Manchester City sponsors are standing by the club in wake of the club’s guilty verdict.

Lucozade, Kellogg’s and Revolut have all told SSN they are not commenting on the independent commission’s findings while the process remains ongoing. The club intend to appeal the decision. pic.twitter.com/qGgIU62eKA

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 30, 2026

City also addressed the accusations of failing to co-operate, stating, “the club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.”

That part almost sounds accusatory. The way we read it, City appear to be hurling accusations of their own towards the Premier League board, citing them to be biased or prejudiced against them, an utterly ridiculous claim given that the entire premise of the investigation was due to Manchester City being prejudiced against the Premier League rules.

It is a bizarre, pedantic rant that has been picked over again and again in a bid for fans and pundits alike to find even a shred of truth, but in reality, it is simply the club lashing out, resorting to self-defence instead of presenting a clear, well-constructed case in support of themselves.

It just makes the club look more guilty. Had they not tried to desperately defend themselves, perhaps they would have emerged from this saga with some reputation still intact. However, the stubborn insistence that they are innocent despite being caught in the most significant case of football club fraud ever speaks volumes.

It didn’t look possible, but the club's statement has, if anything, made the situation even worse for Enzo Maresca and co., and you can almost guarantee that the Premier League will make them regret it.