Guardiola ‘happy’ City’s hearing for alleged breaches will begin
Jamie Jackson
Manchester City’s charges for alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules will begin on Monday.
It is alleged the club breached the Premier League’s financial rules between 2009 and 2018. Manchester City were charged and referred to an independent commission in February last year. The club deny any wrongdoing.
Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola, said he was pleased the hearing was imminent.
I am happy that it starts on Monday … I know what people are looking for because I have read it for many years but I’ve said everyone is innocent until guilt is proven.
Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, has claimed several Premier League clubs have told him Manchester City should be punished for alleged breaches of top-flight financial rules. Tebas, a longstanding critic of City, was quoted by Mundo Deportivo: “I have spoken with many Premier League clubs and most of them understand that City should be sanctioned.”
Key events
Important piece from Ben Fisher on the unhappiness brought to bear after Aston Villa qualified for the Champions League.
News from Luton Town, and for those of us with a fondness for Kenilworth Road, a sad end is in sight. Home since 1905, to be replaced by a new stadium that’s actually quite near the centre and the railway station.
Today, our development company, 2020 Developments, formally submitted a detailed application for a new 25,000-capacity stadium at its Power Court site in the heart of Luton town centre 🧡
Read more! 👇
— Luton Town FC (@LutonTown) September 13, 2024
Gary Sweet, chief executive of Luton and the club’s development company, 2020 Developments, said: “This important announcement is a pivotal moment for all supporters, residents and businesses of Luton. Once our lives changed 16 months ago with promotion at Wembley, concurrent to the gargantuan task of getting Kenilworth Road Premier League ready – which naturally dominated our workload for most of last year – we decided to reassemble a design team to take a fresh look at the whole Power Court project from foundations upwards. All in light of the new ambition, we wanted to embrace for our club going forwards, demonstrated by the proposal to build to a 25,000 stadium capacity in one phase.”
Happy birthday to a legend north of the border. Talking of the 1990s, he has a cameo role in the Trainspotting book, along with Gordon “Jukebox” Durie.
Noel McPherson gets in touch: “Surely Oxford could call on their close relationship/geography with former Premiership Swindon Town?! And if only the Thames Valley Royals had become a thing before the idea and proponent were thrown overboard…”
Fond memories of Captain Bob there. I am so old I attended the University of Sheffield when Wednesday were in the top division. Blades had just been relegated and had a three-sided Bramall Lane.
Saturday 8pm and it’s Bournemouth v Chelsea, where Evanilsson, Bournemouth’s summer signing, could be given a first start. Andoni Iraola on the purchase from Porto, who didn’t travel to South America for the international break.
It’s been very good for him because we could spend more time with him individually, analysing things that we will ask from him, to understand better collectively what we will try to do.
It’s been a very good time for him also personally, to settle in, to find his house and the school for his daughter and he’s probably more relaxed now. He has been very good. I think he played very well against Newcastle and West Ham, probably not against Everton.
But he has played about 120 Premier League minutes and we all want him to score straight away, but for me I’m happy with the performances he has had. I’m not focusing on whether he is going to score or not. I want him to help us and that’s what we’ll ask him (against Chelsea).
David Beckham joined mourners at the funeral of former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson in his home town of Torsby in Sweden to hear tributes to a “genuinely kind” man who “loved good food and drink and travelling first class”.
Video: Pep Guardiola on those 115 charges.
Chilwell named in Chelsea 25-man squad
Jacob Steinberg
Ben Chilwell has been included in Chelsea’s 25-man Premier League squad after failing to secure a transfer. The left-back has trained away from the first team since being told he has no future under Enzo Maresca, who said last month that players on the fringes would not get any minutes under him.
Chilwell has not been involved in any matchday squads and finds himself in limbo after Chelsea ran out of time in efforts to sell him to a foreign club. Chelsea were prepared to loan the 27-year-old to Turkey, where the transfer window remained open until this week, but will have to wait until January to revisit the issue.
It remains to be seen whether Maresca sticks to his plans not to use Chilwell, who has struggled to stay fit since a serious knee injury in November 2021. The England international was surprised not to be included in Chelsea’s Europa Conference League squad and there is a high probability of him not playing at all before the transfer window reopens.
The problem for Chilwell is that Maresca does not play with a conventional left-back and does not believe the former Leicester player can fit into his system. But Chilwell has been given some hope after being named in the final squad that Chelsea submitted to the Premier League on Friday, a development that is expected to see him return to the first-team fold.
“We will sit with him and find solutions,” Maresca said. “He is probably going to be back with us. We will see. At the moment, he is not training with us. The reason why he was training apart, is because the idea was for him to leave.”
Chelsea’s other options at left-back are Marc Cucurella and Renato Veiga, a summer signing from FC Basel.
“I asked if he’d been to one of the great universities: Oxford, Cambridge, Hull… You failed to spot that only two of those are great universities!”
Only one of them has had an actual Premier League team.
Ben Butler gets in touch: “I support West Brom, everyone’s favourite Barclaysmen generator. It’d have to be a film that hints at the glorious 1970s, with an underdog tale of mostly failure tinged with glorious bittersweet victories. The Holdovers makes sense to me. Or any of the Carry On films.”
Ah, Derek MacInnes and Zoltan Gera. Carry On lost one of its finest this week, Kenneth Cope.
Spellcheck hell: Robert the Liar?
Red faces all round at the FAI. Not just because Heimir Hallgrímsson is using Wyscout rather than actually going to matches to watch players but because of some over-zealous use of spellcheck during an Under-21 match with Latvia this week.
Ireland U21 vs Latvia U21, featuring such rising 🇱🇻 stars as:
Dario SHIT (Šits)
Robert THE LIAR (Meļķis)
Rudolf REINGOLZ (Reingolcs)
Bruno THE BLACK (Melnis)
Gleb LIKED IT (Patika)… and a whole host of other randomly renamed players.
Nice one @FAIreland 👏👏👏 https://t.co/iZtKofIU9k
— Latvian Football Podcast 🇱🇻 (@lvfootball_show) September 10, 2024
An FAI Spokesperson said: “We are aware of a translation error that was published in the match programme for the Under-21s match on Tuesday. The programme was immediately pulled from sale, and our Latvian visitors were contacted and made aware of the situation for which we apologised, and which was accepted. We have already begun a review of our programme production process to ensure it will not happen again.”
In a statement, the Latvian FA added: “We have received explanations about the representation of the names and surnames of the players of the Latvian U-21 national team in the official game programme of Tuesday’s match, as well as an apology from the creators of the program. We accept explanations and apologies and understand there was no intention to harm.”
All reminds of a fabled 2006 match between Bury and Barnet where Shakers manager Chris Casper became “Cries Cusped” and Torquay became “Torture”. Jake Speight? Cake Spigot. Someone on a now-closed tabloid paper hit the spellcheck hard and then sent it to the printers.
Simon, movie buff and Leicester fan gets in touch: “As it’s probably the only mention we’ll get before kick off can I suggest Leicester City “When we were Kings”?”
Catch A Falling Star perhaps?
Jamie Jackson heard Pep Guardiola speak earlier this lunchtime.
I’m looking forward to the decision.
On Rodrigo Bentancur and Son Heung-min, Postecoglou has this to say.
In terms of Sonny and Rodri, they had their discussions about the whole incident and both players understand and respect each others position. Rodri has already apologised for what he said and Sonny has accepted that. And accepted the fact that one of his team-mates and a person he is close to has made a mistake.
If we’re talking about having a society that is understanding and tolerant of everything, we must also show that to people who make mistakes as Rodri has made in this time. We also know him very well. A lot better than most because we spend every day with him and we understand the kind of person he is.
We understand that even though he is a great guy and a fantastic team-mate, he has made a big error this time and he has to take the punishment, but also that we give him the opportunity to atone for it and learn from it. Hopefully others learn from it as well.
Background to those words here.
North London derby team news. Unlike Arteta, Ange is pulling few punches.
On Micky van der Ven: “Micky’s good, he’s trained all the way through the international break and it was good for him to stay with us to build him back up so he’s ready to go,”
On Dom Solanke: “Dom’s improved as well and trained the back half of this week. We still have two days to go with those guys so hopefully they get through training OK and are available.”
On Yves Bissouma: “He’s got a bit of an issue, but we’ll have a look at him over the next couple of days and see how it settles.”
That is all from me today! John Brewin is here to take you through the rest of the day’s news.
A response to the movie suggestions (see entry at 2.20pm BST) from Ronan:
Sorry but current Man United as Dead Poets Society is an even more romantic idea than a film about a bunch of preppy teenagers discovering their true selves through verse. Some better suggestions: The History Boys, Hard Eight, Missing, The Crying Game, Lost In Translation, Sideways, etc …
It is transfer deadline day in the Women’s Super League, and of course, all the last minute moves are in the works. The window closes at 11pm BST.
Tom Garry’s exclusive is that Brighton are in talks to sign England forward Nikita Parris, who is currently at Manchester United. The player has turned down a number of offers from other clubs and Brighton are now the favourites to secure her signature.
If a deal is completed it would be another sign of Brighton’s ambition, coming towards the end of a summer transfer window in which they have already signed the England international Fran Kirby and her former Chelsea teammate Jelena Cankovic of Serbia.
Earlier today, Brighton confirmed the signing of Michelle Agyemang on a season-long loan from Arsenal.
Keep up to date with every deal in the WSL, Liga F, Frauen-Bundesliga, Division 1 Féminine and Serie A Femminile as well as a club-by-club guide with our women’s transfer interactive.
An email has come in from Krishna, who earlier had a go at creating an EPL guide for dummies (see entry at 10.34am BST). Now it is time for the movie buffs:
If teams were movies:
Arsenal – Once Upon a Time in the West
Manchester City – The Terminator
Manchester United – Dead Poets Society
Liverpool – A Few Good Men
Tottenham – As Good As It Gets
Chelsea – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Aston Villa – Good Will Hunting
A few classics in there … a few controversial picks too. I like it.
Carlo Ancelotti is unconcerned about Vinícius Júnior’s current form for Real Madrid and fully expects him to bounce back quickly.
Ancelotti acknowledged that Vinícius was not at his best and stressed that the player needs support after lacklustre performances for Brazil in a narrow win over Ecuador and a shock loss at Paraguay during the international break.
He’s not at his best, but he’s still very important for us. We’re in no hurry because the team has managed to score and he has been important … and the last concern for me is Vinícius’ condition, but we have to take good care of him.
He always works well and it’s a matter of just time for him to reach his best level. I can’t fool myself thinking that I’ll have all players at 100% at all times.
I don’t want to go into his problems in Brazil but what I see is a more general issue because they are not managing to bring out their best version as a group. Here we are delighted with Vinícius because although he is not at his best right now, no one can forget that with Vini we have been able to win two Champions League titles … We have to be very fond of him at Madrid.
Here is more from Mikel Arteta on team news ahead of the north London derby:
Gabriel Jesus was out of training. He has got another session tomorrow. If everything goes well he will be ready to be selected in the squad, which is great news for us. Riccardo Calafiori is another one that we have to wait for another day or so.
On Raheem Sterling:
He looks great. First of all because he has a big smile on his face, a lot of energy. He’s at it and he wants to prove a point. When someone has got that in his belly you sense it straight away. Obviously, I don’t need to discover anything about his quality and what he can bring to the team.
His commitment and the level of energy that he is bringing into the team and the quality is a big boost. You can feel it in the players when he comes walking in the door that we are better with him. I think he is going to make us better.
I knew straight away after 10 seconds that we had to bring him because he really wanted it. After 10 seconds I knew that we had to bring him here.
Arteta refuses to rule out Ødegaard for north London derby
Martin Ødegaard has not been fully ruled out of Arsenal’s north London derby against Tottenham on Sunday. Ødegaard suffered an ankle injury while on duty for Norway during the international break.
Norway’s team doctor, Ola Sand, revealed that while the initial MRI scan had indicated no fracture, the player was still likely to be sidelined for at least the rest of September and would miss Arsenal’s opening Champions League game against Atalanta and the visit to City three days later.
However, just now Mikel Arteta said that Arsenal were still doing some tests with Ødegaard:
We need some more tests so let’s see what happens in the next day or so, this afternoon probably, and see what happens with the extent of the injury and how quickly we can get him back.
He is super positive about everything, we know Martin, he wants to be there every single day, but we have to wait and see.
With 48 hours until the game, players could always become available. Let’s see what happens.
Enzo Maresca is “focused” on Chelsea’s match against Bournemouth rather than the civil war at board level at the club.
In his press conference, when asked about Todd Boehly’s broken relationship with Clearlake Capital, the US private equity firm that owns a majority shareholding in the club, the manager said:
I said many times, we started two months ago, so we need to know each other. If I spend my energy on something different [the owners], it’s not worth it. My focus is just on tomorrow’s game, to be honest. In the last week, I have focused on the game, preparing in the best way. Focus in the way we want to prepare for the game in the best way. The other things are things I cannot control.
I spoke with Todd when we played City, I spoke with Beghdad [Eghbali] a few days ago. I am speaking with both. There are no problems at all. I just focus on what is on the pitch because that is all I can control.
On Ben Chilwell:
Ben is still here so we’ll sit with him and find a solution. At the moment he’s not training with us.
The reason why he’s training apart as the idea was for him to leave but because we didn’t find a solution he’s probably going to start training with us – we need to decide that. If we decide that, he’ll be one of our players. I think he’s good. I saw him this morning – he’s OK.
On Chelsea’s future transfer windows:
At the moment we have 24 players, it’s a normal squad. Even at the beginning we was working with 25-26 players. I really liked the squad before I joined. In January and next summer we’ll do something more. Then we’ll have exactly the squad we want to have in the future.
Eddie Howe has not spoken to Paul Mitchell in the nine days since Newcastle’s director of football claimed he had inherited an unclear transfer strategy.
Tensions between Howe and Mitchell have been simmering since the latter’s appointment in early July and although they appear to have reached a truce it seems fragile. “I’ve had no contact from Paul,” said Newcastle’s manager, who maintains he is “very, very proud” of every player he helped sign between January 2022 and Mitchell’s arrival. “But I don’t think that’s unusual – we’ve got different jobs.”
Mitchell claimed last week he and Howe were “over-communicating” and sharing hour-long nightly telephone chats but Howe said such conversations had happened only during a transfer window blighted by Newcastle’s failed pursuit of Crystal Palace’s Marc Guéhi.
Read more from Louise Taylor below.
Here is more from Guardiola on if he has discussed City’s hearing with his players:
I am not a lawyer. Erling is not a lawyer, no. There are many lawyers in this country and in Spain, but I will wait and see.
“I am not a lawyer… we are not lawyers… Erling is not a lawyer!” ⚖
Pep Guardiola’s stubborn response after being asked about the hearing beginning into Manchester City’s 115 alleged charges 🗣 pic.twitter.com/UwpJ8m0xmf
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 13, 2024
And on their opponents this weekend, Brentford:
I admire Thomas Frank unbelievably. Always has been tough [to play them] here and there and this is no exception.
They’ve changed their shape a little bit. They have fast and strong players up front and have a really good process in the build-up. So aggressive, man-to-man and defend well so it is a complete team.
I don’t remember an easy game against Brentford. It’s always been tough. Ivan Toney was maybe more direct but they have a real good process.
The last time we lost was Brentford? You should have avoided that! That means how well we have done it, more than two years.
Guardiola ‘happy’ City’s hearing for alleged breaches will begin
Jamie Jackson
Manchester City’s charges for alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules will begin on Monday.
It is alleged the club breached the Premier League’s financial rules between 2009 and 2018. Manchester City were charged and referred to an independent commission in February last year. The club deny any wrongdoing.
Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola, said he was pleased the hearing was imminent.
I am happy that it starts on Monday … I know what people are looking for because I have read it for many years but I’ve said everyone is innocent until guilt is proven.
Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, has claimed several Premier League clubs have told him Manchester City should be punished for alleged breaches of top-flight financial rules. Tebas, a longstanding critic of City, was quoted by Mundo Deportivo: “I have spoken with many Premier League clubs and most of them understand that City should be sanctioned.”
Thank you Daniel, sterling shift as always. Hello all, let’s see what Pep Guardiola has to say ahead of Manchester City’s match against Brentford this weekend …
As Pep gets going I’m going to get out of here.
Yara will be taking over to steer you through the next few hours.
Thanks for keeping me company (and sharing your own Fantasy howlers).
Enjoy the footy this weekend. How good is it having the Premier League back?
Nathan Ake is out “until the next international break”
That’s the bad news shared by Pep Guardiola just now.
That’ll be October 12th.
Ake was stretchered off with what looked like a hamstring strain in the Netherlands’ 2-2 draw at home to Germany.
Guardiola said: “We are unlucky with Nathan – every time he goes there [to play for Netherlands] he comes back injured.”
Nicolas Jackson stays on at Chelsea for a further NINE years!
Nine!? That’s insane.
Well, that’s how long Nicolas Jackson will remain a Blue if he so desires. The Senegalese international has signed a contract extension with Chelsea, keeping him at the club until 2033.
“I’m very happy,” the Blues’ manager, Enzo Maresca, said after the team’s most recent draw with Crystal Palace. “Nicolas is doing a fantastic job with us, on and off the ball. He scored already two goals [this season]. He scored again today. He had another two chances but we are happy with him.”
Speaking on the club’s official website, Jackson said: “It feels great the club has confidence in me. I am working very hard. I am very happy to extend my contract and stay here for many years.”
Keira Walsh is going nowhere
According to our women’s football writer, Tom Garry, Keira Walsh’s wish to return to the WSL will not be granted:
Barcelona are unwilling to sell the England midfielder Keira Walsh in this summer’s women’s transfer window, which closes for English clubs at 11pm BST on Friday.
Arsenal are among the clubs with a longstanding interest in Walsh but the reigning European champions’ stance is that the former Manchester City player is not for sale.
That is despite the 27-year-old entering the final year of her contract. It is understood Walsh has advised the Catalan club she is unlikely to extend her stay because she is missing home and would prefer to return to England. Barcelona’s stance raises the distinct possibility that Walsh could move on a free transfer next summer.
Walsh joined Barcelona from Manchester City in 2022 for a then world record fee. In two seasons there, Walsh has helped them win back-to-back Champions League titles.
Southampton defender Jan Bednarek signs three-year extension.
“I’m really happy,” he said. “I think it’s the right choice for me, for my family. We all are happy here. I think we found our happy place in life, and we just want to keep going, keep growing as a family, as a football player, as a football club, so I think this is the right place for me right now.
“I think I’m in the right place, with the right manager, with the right fans. I think we created something special and I think this was the only one decision I could make to extend the contract and stay here.”