Manchester City charges: Maresca says Premier League club will win appeal

Coach Enzo Maresca says he has absolute faith in Man City despite guilty finding over breaches of Premier League financial rules. Save Share Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca says he has absolute faith the club will win its appeal after being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules. In his first news conference sincethe bombshell announcementlast week, the Italian on Friday also rejected any suggestion that City’s haul of silverware over the past 15 years was now tainted. “I completely trust the club,” said Maresca, who was appointed manager in June but also previously worked at City as part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff. “I trust the club because I trust the people, and this is also the reason why I joined the club. … There is not another club in the world where I would like to be.” An independent commission found that City had arranged “sham” contracts with a number of their commercial partners to artificially inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than 900 million pounds ($1.2bn) over nine seasons from 2009 to 2018. The 10-time English champions, who continue to deny any wrongdoing, areappealing against the judgement. They likely face a severe points penalty that could lead to relegation or even expulsion from the Premier League if they fail to overturn the verdict. “The reason why I joined this club is because I completely trust 100 percent the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, all the organisation. So I don’t have any doubt about that,” Maresca said. “I spoke with the club for sure, and we all [have] trust, and the right moment to speak about that is when we win this appeal.” Since an Abu Dhabi-backed takeover in 2008, City have become the dominant force in English football. They have won eight Premier League titles, the Champions League and multiple other trophies over the past 15 years. Maresca, whose side have won all five of their Premier League games this season, rejected the suggestion that those previous successes were now tainted. “Absolutely not,” the former Chelsea boss said. “I know the effort from the players, from the club, from the manager in that time that was Pep. “So I know exactly the effort that the club put to achieve that kind of target.” Guardiola stepped down at the end of last season after a trophy-laden decade at the Etihad Stadium....