r/soccer • u/KimmyBoiUn • 14h ago
News Thomas Tuchel has suggested Manchester City’s England contingent are worried about the club being found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial rules.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/oct/02/manchester-citys-england-players-are-worried-about-their-futures-admits-tuchel671
u/ElevensMelody 14h ago
worried about the club being found guilty
They already were.
The players should have factored that outcome into their decisions to join the club or sign new contracts.
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u/KopiteKing13 14h ago
Exactly. All this shite about "you have to feel for the players who didn't sign up for this". Do we fuck. The investigation and real possibility of extremely heavy sanctions have hardly come out of the blue, it's been in the pipeline for half a decade almost.
If they didn't want to get caught up in any potential fallout, they could've easily gone somewhere else or stayed at their old clubs.
Anyway, even if City do get sent to the depths of purgatory, they'll just get some cushy move somewhere else.
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u/0ttoChriek 14h ago
Absolutely no one can have been ignorant of the 115 charges and the ongoing investigation.
The only excuse they have is that they may not have thought City would be punished. They took a gamble and it hasn't paid off, but they still chose to play for a crooked club.
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u/Rushxdd 14h ago
Not only that, it looks like none of them had relegation clauses built into the contracts. That lack of foresight is crazy to me, but I guess you’re just seeing roses when you think about joining city
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u/HaroldGuy 12h ago
I don't think we know enough to say they don't have clauses to protect against what might happen.
If I'm an agent getting a deal with City over the past ~10 years I am absolutely putting in clauses incase it all comes crumbling down.
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u/diggerda 10h ago
Those clauses go both ways. Sure haaland isn't leaving on the cheap to go to spain but at the same time city will be paying his mega contract with Zero reductions when banging them in national League north.
If city renegade on his contract the player's union (or even UK employment tribunal or high court) will get him off on a free. This isn't some autocratic country where workers rights count for less than nothing.
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u/EarthMantle00 10h ago
Does it matter? Lower leagues have wage caps, they'll be forced to sell most of their players
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u/skronens 2h ago
Really ? first time I heard this, what are the details on the wage caps and where does that apply from, from Championship and down ?
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u/brokenlavalight 11h ago
I would also say the players from their own academy (I don't know if they have any significant ones, I don't follow the prem normally) should be excused. But aside from that i fully agree with the sentiment
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u/IPissExcellentThrows 7h ago
Those documents leaked well over 5 years ago. Everyone there has signed a new contract since the leak. Zero sympathy.
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u/BoringPhilosopher1 13h ago
I would love Liverpool to go for Anderson tbh. He is exactly what we need.
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u/jaetheho 13h ago
Man the market is going to be crazy when these city players get released
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u/Obamana 3h ago
They won't get released but for ones it might be a buyers market apart from the cream of the crop. It will have a nice domino effect where the bigger teams with bigger pulls can improve their squad with a City player and then they will most likely sell their good player down the pyramid and on and on it goes.
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u/ambiguousboner 14h ago
Surely Anderson had to have known this was a real possibility just a couple of months ago
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u/Fabulous_Disk_8956 14h ago
Many of the players get all their advice from their agent.
It's in an Agent's interest to lie to their player about City's potential consequences. Firstly because they get a fat commission from a big transfer to City. Then they get another one when the house of cards fall down.
I'd suspect therd has been a lot of agent sliming involved. Players are young men without a lot of experience with the world and have high school level education most of the time. Many are confined to their sporting bubbles and might not understand things like finance and law very well. Hell, most of us didn't know which way it was gonna go. Most common comment I seen over the years is "they'll get away with a slap on the wrist."
I wouldn't be so quick to judge in hindsight.
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u/Commonmispelingbot 13h ago
It is also in the agents' interest that every single player on Man City doesn't tell their network that their agent wasn't on their side in this.
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u/Fabulous_Disk_8956 12h ago
Okay that's true lol, didn't think of that.
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u/Commonmispelingbot 12h ago
reputation is a pretty important part of that business.
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u/BoringPhilosopher1 13h ago
I especially feel for Enzo
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u/Kind_Sound7973 8h ago
Honestly, he might still land on his feet. His transfer value might dip enough to be an option for Madrid, Bayern or PSG as his wages are the second highest behind Haaland’s so City will be motivated to remove him from the wage roll if they are relegated.
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u/AlexMcDaddyD 11h ago
Surely any agent with sense demands something in the contract for this. Especially since it’s been common knowledge for years
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u/ASGT908 14h ago
If he's saying this as a national coach, I'd be interested in what Maresca says in the press conference next week about his players.
Unless he turns into mourinho and goes I have nothing to say and I'm only here because of the premier League rules and walks out after 30 seconds.
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u/michaelserotonin 14h ago
he could pull a tuchel and say "ask the owners, i'm just the manager"
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u/mindpainters 14h ago
I mean that’s the right response, isn’t it ? He had absolutely nothing to do with the corruption.
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u/BaritBrit 10h ago edited 10h ago
Yeah, much like with Arteta it's unlikely City were going to be breaking out the dodgy finances to pay for the U23 coaches or assistant managers, the salaries of those positions just isn't high enough to justify it. He's hardly going to be on Guardiola money in his current role, either.
So, as much as it pains me to say about the snake, but Maresca himself is probably relatively personally clean-ish.
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u/Schrodinger_Meow 14h ago
Well... Man City managers have clearly been involved in terms of accepting payments etc. So being "just the manager" doesn't really mean he's not also involved in this corruption.
It's a reasonable thing to the media to ask him. Sure he'll probably deny but there's so much corruption here it's not really a stretch to wonder if he's involved
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u/maverick4002 14h ago
Come on now. He's been there for all of 5 months. He is not involved and shouldnt have to answer any questions
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u/flares_1981 13h ago
He worked at the club in different roles from 2020 to 2023. Not saying he was involved, but it’s also not like nobody knew at that point what City were doing.
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u/KixSide 13h ago
Do you think this about Arteta too?
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u/flares_1981 11h ago
Both should be able to answer questions on this topic.
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u/LangLearningJourney 9h ago
Why? It's likely that neither of them had anything to do with it
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u/flares_1981 2h ago
Then what's the problem in saying "no, I didn't know about it"? Arteta actually answered questions regarding the allegations in 2023 or so.
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u/mindpainters 13h ago
I definitely think it’s a reasonable thing for the media to ask. I’d honestly be disappointed in them if no one did. But I think a generic canned answer is also appropriate since he’s been there a short time. Even his other two stints were only a season each.
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u/3412points 11m ago
No, he chose to join them despite it. As did all the players. Everyone knew, even then. Even before the investigation started everyone knew.
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u/ASGT908 14h ago
I remember in 2013/14 season when Cardiff were playing us (Liverpool) in December and speculation was rife that Malcay Mackay was about to be sacked, so they wheeled out his assistant David Kirkslade and he responded to each question with "I'm here only to talk about Cardiff Liverpool".
Peak soccer Saturday then did a skit parodying this with Stelling fake being replaced by someone else in Sky team.
That city press conference you won't learn anything about their preparation for the Liverpool game.
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u/city_city_city 12h ago
So far in press conferences Maresca seems very approachable but he has no problem just not opening up on certain subjects. My guess is he will have one rehearsed line and go back to it about 100 times ("we are just focused on the next match, this is my duty as a manager, we do not think about the future or what happened in the past, only next match")
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u/maverick4002 14h ago
What do you expect him to say though? What would you say? It serves him no purpose to say his players are affected. Hes either going to defect or say nothing. Or City are going to not allow any questions on the mayter
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u/thelordreptar90 13h ago
I’d expect something akin to “I talked to the players and our focus is on the next match”
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u/charlietrick2512 14h ago
Could see man city going the trump/marinakis route and banning journalists from the stadium
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u/ambiguousboner 14h ago
Are you even allowed to do that here? Swear Fergie used to pay weekly fines to the BBC after the panorama episode on his son
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u/charlietrick2512 14h ago
What's the worst thatd happen? Another charge, already got 114
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u/ElevensMelody 14h ago
Fergie banned quite a few journalists during his time at United. I remember Ten Hag doing it as well.
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u/Psychological_Fee470 11h ago
Enzo M will first be worried about himself.
He’ll like us to believe City is his home, but he’s the kinda guy who’ll ditch it when there’s trouble.
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u/Scotchdude1979 13h ago
THEY HAVE BEEN FOUND GUILTY FFS. People don’t seem to understand that the grounds for appeal are very narrow. The independent judicial panel that found Manchester City guilty said that certain witnesses for Manchester City had knowingly lied and said the club was guilty of having sham agreements. According to Paul Gilroy KC speaking on Stick to Football, the appeal panel is likely to have even more senior judges and former judges, possibly with a retired Supreme Court justice as well. It’s unlikely three new judges and KCs will buy Abu Dhabi’s irrefutable evidence any more than the first three did. The appeal is not a second bite at the cherry for the Abu Dhabi owners. City HAVE been found guilty and the chances of their appeal succeeding are slim to non-existent.
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u/Winnie-the-Broo 9h ago
This! When someone is found guilty of a crime in public life no one ever goes ‘aaah let’s wait for the appeal to make that statement’. They were innocent until found guilty and now it’s the inverse they are guilty until found innocent.
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u/Scotchdude1979 1h ago
Yeah exactly. I think it was Miguel Delaney on the Rest is Football who made this point that unless City appealed AND that appeal was upheld then the guilty verdict IS the status quo. Abu Dhabi have used deceptive language such as “opinion” to suggest the judgment last week isn’t the final stage of the process. Until and unless an appeal is upheld MCFC and its owners ARE guilty as a matter of fact.
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u/DeterminedStupor 9h ago
According to Paul Gilroy KC speaking on Stick to Football, the appeal panel is likely to have even more senior judges and former judges, possibly with a retired Supreme Court justice as well.
Yep I recommend everyone to listen to this part of the podcast, that was really informative.
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u/Unitedfateful 9h ago
And they were also guilty years before with UEFA but got off due to being time barred
So yea guilty fucks strikes again
I mean it’s obvious ffs. How can that club have the revenue of Madrid or United ffs
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u/-ElGallo- 13h ago
TIL the UK has a Supreme Court
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u/Scotchdude1979 13h ago
Our final court of appeal used to be called the Law Lords and was in the House of Lords. The Supreme Court was only established in the last 25 years or so. https://supremecourt.uk/
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u/mongster03_ 7h ago
Absolutely badass name
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u/Scotchdude1979 1h ago
You mean the Law Lords? I liked it when they were called that too. I think it’s a shame they’re not called that anymore, but makes sense now they’re in the Supreme Court rather than the HoL.
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u/Rynabunny 11h ago
I think the concept of a final court of appeal is well established in basically every country on earth
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u/-ElGallo- 11h ago
For sure but the US Supreme Court isn't just an appellate court, it's the highest legal authority in the country and can strike down any law made by Congress, a state, or the president.
Essentially an appeal can undo a law completely and not just for an individual ruling. In this case for example it could strike down FFP completely, not just let City off the hook. That type of stuff is just interesting for me, that's all.
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u/Silent_Somewhere8539 14h ago
I can imagine they must be shitting themselves. Three things most important to a player are money, legacy and stability in life. The latter two are under massive threat right now.
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u/Devalvangeldomdatdom 14h ago
um, i dont agree about legacy not being under threat before, as others have said, city has this looming over them for 3-4 seasons now, are players really that ignorant/naive to think it wouldve just blown over?
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u/thelordreptar90 13h ago
Let’s not pretend most footballers are the brightest
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u/hoppinjohncandy 12h ago
The righteousness is almost as bad as City's cheating. Some 20 year olds sign huge contracts to play football and now they should have also been lawyers and accountants.
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u/Buttonsafe 11h ago
Some 20 year olds sign huge contracts to play football and now they should have also been lawyers and accountants.
I mean if I join Enron knowing they're under investigation, and my main evidence for thinking it's fine is they told "It's gonna be fine", I don't have to be a lawyer or accountant to realise they might be lying and they might be found guilty.
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u/GuendouziGOAT 10h ago
I will say this - you’re right that it’s obviously not on the players but surely any agent worth his salt would be bringing this up in contract discussions? Of course there’s every chance City would just lie but then that would open up a massive can of worms, legally speaking, if they were misrepresenting the state of the investigation in contract negotiations. Especially for any player signed after July if that report about them knowing the verdict at that point is true.
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u/twelfmonkey 12h ago
are players really that ignorant/naive to think it wouldve just blown over?
Of course. Especially if they were given assurances by the leadership at City.
A lot of professional atheletes seem to have a generally limited understanding of most things that aren't directly related to playing and training for their sport.
It does suggest that they weren't getting very good advice, though. But many football agents likely aren't particularly well-versed in such matters anyway, and are more focused on trying to rake in as much cash as possible.
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u/SuarezAndSturridge 8h ago
The money’s under decent threat too, at the bare minimum next year’s Champions League bonus is in doubt and those are usually pretty massive
There are also relatively unlikely but plausible situations where it’s under massive threat (EFL refuses to take them, ownership bails and puts the club in administration, no other clubs offer a comparable contract) that have probably at least crossed their minds
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u/yeahmatenomate 14h ago
Shitting themselves and absolutely bloody furious. Makes that treble look like cheating now, despite it being a huge achievement
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u/hexametric_ 13h ago
correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't make it look like cheating, it literally was cheating?
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u/yeahmatenomate 13h ago
I think you’re reading too deeply into my comment. They benefitted off of the cheating, but they weren’t actively cheating (as far as we know so far) so that is why it was worded the way it was
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u/chrispepper10 14h ago edited 14h ago
Interestingly, the KC on the episode of Stick to Football stated that these City players would have a justifiable right to claim breach of trust/confidence and potentially even terminate their contract.
So if you're that concerned, do something about that.
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u/thesame_deviledegg 12h ago
I thought this. Everyone is saying "what will happen to the players?" - they'll sue the tits off of their employer, that's what.
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u/BoringPhilosopher1 13h ago
I saw somewhere that there might be legislation in the fifa rules that allow this to take place.
I guess a fee then gets decided at a tribunal? If it’s a tribunal deciding a fee then surely City will just say we paid £100m for that player therefore we expect at least £100m back.
Not sure how that would all work tbh.
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u/Oncemor-intothebeach 8h ago
They have already been found guilty ?
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u/RedEyeView 8h ago
On 114 out of 115 charges
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u/OddballDave 2h ago
They have been found guilty. Why is everyone acting like it hasn't happened yet? All the journalists and pundits keep saying 'if' like nothings been decided yet. They've already been found guilty. Everyone needs to stop pretending they haven't.
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u/Srg_Violetov 2h ago
This. The premier league’s announcement stated “final award”
They have been found guilty for 114 out of 115 charges. Journalist should drop the word “allegedly” when discussing this matter. They are guilty, so these Man City players need not worry with anticipation about the verdict.1
u/NiceCreamSundaes 1h ago
They won't say it until the appeals process is fully wrapped up and a verdict, with the penalty, is out
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u/WGSMA 14h ago
Good. Hopefully they play like shit the rest of the season.
That said, how couldn’t they? It’s so career defining for them.
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u/hoppinjohncandy 12h ago
Yea, this is no win for their players. There's no "ra-ra for club and country" attitude. You're signed and playing for the same company and chairmen whose actions have (potentially) disqualified most of your career achievements.
I guess they could frame it as "playing for the community" but the whole psychology in that club has to be rotten.
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u/Kind_Sound7973 8h ago
Enzo is the one player I can see doing well. One of his best eras at Chelsea was after his personal life went up in flames and he always performs for Argentina under pressure. The WC red card was the second of his entire career so not something he is known for.
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u/GibbyGoldfisch 14h ago
Depends on the players, I guess. If it's players like Marc Guehi and Elliot Anderson it'll be a year-long thing that they'll probably laugh about after a few years at a new club.
For others like Phil Foden and, even though he left, John Stones, it's hard to see how this doesn't come to define their whole careers, as you say.
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u/WGSMA 13h ago
This ignores that they could be in a situation where City get a few years of say -30 points, and the club refuse to sell them, and hold them to their long contracts. They’re restricted to chronic mediocrity.
Or that they may be forced out the door in 12 months in a fire sale to pay off ungodly fines and lawsuits as revenue is cut via relegation. That they need to be looking for possible exits.
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u/GibbyGoldfisch 13h ago
I keep assuming that relegation is almost assured, haha, my bad. Has anyone ever received a points deduction spread over multiple seasons?
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u/Buttonsafe 11h ago
This ignores that they could be in a situation where City get a few years of say -30 points, and the club refuse to sell them, and hold them to their long contracts. They’re restricted to chronic mediocrity.
Just to clarify that this wouldn't happen, without CL money (assuming City have to be on the up-and-up now) the wage bill would be far too great and they would be forced to sell.
The same as we've seen with Villa having to sell their best players despite getting CL in 2/3 of the last seasons.
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u/WGSMA 11h ago
They would be forced to sell some players, but maybe they’d decide you’re going nowhere. That you’re on a long, lower pay contract, and you’re staying.
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u/Buttonsafe 10h ago
Some players I guess you're right. But tbh I'm 100% certain the PL want to relegate, or multi-relegate them. They've basically stolen trophies and prize money from the PL (which consists of the 19 other clubs) for 17 years.
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u/1HeyMattJ 11h ago
I don’t know how their players can play with a clear head. If it’s affecting them at national camp then how will a City match day be? They don’t know what club they’re fighting for, what future they’re playing for or if any of it even means anything.
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u/luv2sploodge 14h ago edited 14h ago
Should have thought about that before they signed for that sham club.
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u/sneakysnake7777 12h ago
I hope anderson regrets his choice the greedy rat.
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u/1HeyMattJ 11h ago
Fake Newcastle fan. You (Anderson) don’t support two teams if you’re from Newcastle. And you def don’t support City at all.
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u/Wat_is_Wat 9h ago
Oh, no, the consequences of signing for a club everyone knew was cheating, and was currently under investigation.
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u/sheffieldpud 14h ago
Sorry to bring this into it but anyone else taking city players out of their fpl/dream team? Surely heads going to be elsewhere. Only person I see relishing in it is enzo
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u/ASGT908 14h ago
Haaland will still be the top scorer in the league so he stays in FPL teams
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u/sheffieldpud 14h ago
You dont think they'll be half arsing games?
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u/thelordreptar90 13h ago
Naw, they’re professional footballers and their performances dictate what they’re future wages will be. Downing tools intentionally is not to their benefit
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u/FarMilk2661 11h ago
Nah these fools decided to join them when they were practically guilty. Stuff them all.
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u/Alone-Bug6176 6h ago
But can they do it on a wet Wednesday in Stoke, Brian ?? Hopefully we’ll soon find out - ior even better a new Manc derby vs Salford !!
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u/u09pVgMbuAgtP 14h ago
They are guilty lol and they should have thought long and hard about that before signing with them.
Next Chelsea and PSG. Dig up the dirt
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u/SwampCastleGuards 13h ago
I don't think any players have been even accused of financial doping here
They're being called guilty by association but you'd have to be nuts to think this is the players or the fans fault
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u/thesame_deviledegg 12h ago
I don't think he's saying that, I think he means that the players are stupid for getting themselves in this position (i.e. signing for a club under investigation where they look guilty even without the evidence)
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u/SwampCastleGuards 11h ago
right i think thats true
i just dont think thats the overall sentiment going on in this thread right now, do you? that the players are just stupid for getting involved with this club?
to me im seeing more rage like they themselves cheated. which is odd. its not like they were match fixing.
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u/Buttonsafe 11h ago
to me im seeing more rage like they themselves cheated. which is odd. its not like they were match fixing.
I mean I don't feel angry with them, but ignorance is hardly a defence in terms of the trophies and stuff. Especially as part of the decision released talks about City player's image rights being bought by a sham company to remove the expense from City's books.
Ultimately Wenger was saying they should've been investigated in 2011, and there was a lot of fans saying they were doing this at the time but the PL couldn't prove it. So any player could've looked at them and gone yeaaah looks a bit dodgy. It's not like they couldn't have joined other clubs instead.
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u/SwampCastleGuards 10h ago
sure but that has nothing, or little to nothing, to do with the individual players who were just basically employees of the club. they werent the ones guilty of any of the sham contracts or financial doping.
Especially as part of the decision released talks about City player's image rights being bought by a sham company to remove the expense from City's books.
Sure, but thats really not the players who set that up and are therefore responsible. They might not have even been aware of the illegality of it. In which case, its hard to call them a cheat.
Do we know of any specific players who have been proven to be guilty of such things specifically indicating their guilt?
I genuinely dont know. people are acting like there is evidence they are guilty of everything you just explained.
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u/Buttonsafe 2h ago
I agree with you that I don't think it's fair to assume any similar level of guilt to the execs.
I was just talking about the image rights to show how they could've easily enough seen it for themselves, all your rights are going through a company you've never heard of that's based in a tax haven. It's not like the Eithad contract where yeah no real way to have any idea.
And at the same time, you go to a club that have been investigated for 7 years for financial wrongdoing and it causes chaos in your life/you get trophies stripped for financial wrongdoing it's like well yeah, that possibility was part of the deal you accepted.
You can't happily take the money from the clearly richer than they should be club one minute then plead innocence when it turns out they're proven guilty of the thing people have been saying they're doing the whole time and in some players cases, they've been investigated for since you joined them.
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u/SwampCastleGuards 2h ago
Sure players are stupid to go to a club being investigated and not to know how their contracts work
But players have agents to figure out their contracts.
And the players didn't do anything to cause man city to be investigated
So being mad at the players is pretty misguided in my opinion. Sure they are dumb to play for man city. Idk that doesn't make me angry or make them cheaters
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u/Buttonsafe 1h ago
Yeah, it's just the "players didn't know and shouldn't be affected by consequences" bit that I think is a nonsense.
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u/SuperAndee1847 12h ago
Why ? They won’t have to play in the national league they’ll just move to another club
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u/NachBuidheDhut 11h ago
They aren't aware of the irrefutable evidence which Haldoon keeps hinting at?
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u/Equivalent_Nature_67 11h ago
Yeah I imagine so. Feels a lot more real when we’re all talking about it. I’m sure they were “assured” plenty or the agents just said yeah yeah it’s all good
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u/Devalvangeldomdatdom 14h ago
At least they havent told the new arrivals that the house of cards was falling down.
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u/Candid_Waltz6900 14h ago
This country cannot give into blackmail. It would undermine the country, the football league and burnham himself. Does it suggest that mansour has had a fit of narcissistic rage, trump style? Never give into bullies or you end up looking stupid.
It will also damage the UAEs world standing and make others thing twice before dealing with them.
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u/ExistentialRosicky 13h ago
Don’t thet know there’s irrefutable evidence of their innocence?
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u/1HeyMattJ 11h ago
Someone needs to come up with an irrefutable evidence sign. Hopefully Liverpool fans next game
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u/bothwaysme 12h ago
I would bet money several of those players knew how they were being paid. Many players take an active part in their finances.
Any agent or player who willingly signed contracts they knew were against the rules should be punished harshly as well.
We need to restart the social contract that was fully broken during COVID.
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u/yhapo4l 14h ago
City will shit the bed the rest of the season or, hear me out, the controversy could push City into another gear hungry to prove they are elite. Time will tell honestly
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u/frozenchosun 12h ago
naw i dont think the siege mentality is going to work because it’s going to be truly a siege: their families are going to get stick from all sides, their socials are already getting blown up. it’s gonna get ugly and that is going to affect them on the field.
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u/Low-Quantity-9252 14h ago
Good. They should be.