Man City accuse Uefa of caring ‘less about justice and more about politics’ in staunch defense of FFP charge

Ferran Soriano insists Manchester City are not guilty of Uefa's Financial Fair Play breaches – and is adamant their name will be cleared in time to play in next season’s Champions League.

City’s chief executive has spoken out for the first time since the Premier League champions were banned from European competition for two years.

The club are taking an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where Soriano is convinced their name will be cleared once and for all.

“Well the most important thing I have to say today is that the allegations are not true,” said Soriano.

“They are simply not true.

“The owner has not put money in this club that has not been properly declared. We are a sustainable football club, we are profitable, we don’t have debt, our accounts have been scrutinized many times, by auditors, by regulators, by investors and this is perfectly clear.”

City were found guilty of “serious breaches” of FFP as well as failing to cooperate with the investigation.

As well as the ban, which starts from next season, they were fined €30million.

In an interview with City’s official website, Soriano added: “We are looking for an early resolution obviously through a thorough process and a fair process so my best hope is that this will be finished before the beginning of the summer and until then for us, it is business as usual.

“All we are looking for is a proper adjudication in an independent and impartial body that is going to take the time to look at all the evidence and look at it without preconception.

“I am also looking for the end of this process maybe to put a pen under this undertone that we are hearing all the time that anything that we do, any result that we get is based only on money and not on talent and effort. The 100s of people that work at this club know this is not true that it is about effort and talent so maybe in the end, this is an opportunity.”

Pep Guardiola has already told the club he will stand by them, despite the ban – and Soriano revealed his conversations with City’s manager, who has a year left on his contract.

“Obviously, he has been kept informed about this process, but this is not something for him to respond to,” he said. “He is focussed on the football, he is focussing on the game, the game at hand, the game today, tomorrow and the next weeks. As well as the players.

“They are calm, they are focussed and this matter is more a business matter, a legal matter than a football manner.”

“The fans can be sure of two things. The first one is that the allegations are false. And the second is that we will do everything that can be done to prove so.

“We know the fans are supporting us. We can feel it. MCFC fans have gone through challenges over the decades. This is just another challenge.

“We will stick together, we will go through it and we will not let the fans down.”

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