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Sports News of Wednesday, 19 February 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

CITY BAN: Uefa allegations are false - CEO Ferran Soriano speaks

CEO Ferran Soriano CEO Ferran Soriano

Manchester City's Chief Executive, Ferran Soriano, has opened up on the two-years European ban on the club, stating that the allegations are "false".

Uefa slammed the PL Champions with a two-year ban from European competition after being found guilty of Financial Fair Play rule breaches - a ruling the club intends to appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. [Sky Sports]

In an interview with the club's in-house media, Soriano affirmed that City will do everything they can to prove that the allegations are false.

"Well, the most important thing I have to say today is that the allegations are not true. They are simply not true.

"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.

"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 scrutinised many times, by auditors, by regulators, by investors and this is perfectly clear.



"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."

Soriano insists both the manager and players are fully focused on the football side of the club, and remain calm.

"Obviously, [Pep] has been kept informed about this process but this is not something for him to respond to. He is focused on the football, he is focusing on the game, the game at hand, the game today, tomorrow and the next weeks.

"We did co-operate with this process. We delivered a long list of documents and support that we believe is irrefutable evidence that the claims are not true.

"It was hard because we did this in the context of information being leaked to the media, and feeling that every step and engagement of the way, that we were considered guilty before anything was even discussed.

"But in the end, this is an internal process that has been initiated and then prosecuted and then judged by this FFP chamber at UEFA.

"We provided the evidence but this FFP Investigatory Chamber relied more on out-of-context stolen emails than all the other evidence we provided of what actually happened and I think it is normal that we feel like we feel.

"Ultimately, based on our experience and our perception, this seems to be less about justice and more about politics."

Sky Sports