Maresca urges Manchester City players to stay focused after financial-rules verdict

Enzo Maresca has urged Manchester City's players to remain focused and positive as the squad reunited after the club's financial-rules verdict, BBC Sport reported on Thursday. City's international players returned to training on October 8, with the head coach addressing a group whose members had largely been away when the findings were published.

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According to the BBC, Maresca asked the players not to let the club's off-field crisis affect their attitude as domestic football resumes. Erling Haaland also called for unity in an interview with Sky Sports, expressing his attachment to City and its supporters and encouraging the team to concentrate on playing and winning matches.

The Premier League announced on September 29 that an independent commission had upheld all charges concerning serious financial-rule breaches across nine seasons, alongside most charges concerning failures to co-operate with its investigation. The league's statement said the findings covered the 2009/10 to 2017/18 seasons and included arrangements that artificially increased reported revenue and lowered recorded costs.

City disputes the findings. The Associated Press reported on October 2 that the club had lodged an appeal, arguing that the decision contained material errors of law, principle and fact. City has continued to maintain its innocence, leaving the commission's conclusions subject to a challenge rather than an accepted account from both sides.

The Premier League said punishment would be considered separately at a further hearing before the independent commission. Its September statement did not announce a sanction and said that hearing would remain private until publication of its outcome was permitted. The league also said its investigation began in December 2018, with a formal complaint following in February 2023 and a 42-day hearing concluding in December 2024.

The response elsewhere has been restrained. BBC Sport reported that several rival clubs were reluctant to have their managers discuss the verdict publicly. Coventry manager Frank Lampard and Newcastle head coach Matthias Jaissle declined to offer detailed judgments, with Lampard pointing to the ongoing appeal and Jaissle emphasising his own team's preparations.