JACK GAUGHAN: City’s response to their Premier League charge will likely be left to Pep Guardiola

Erling Haaland’s top had just swirled over his head and Manchester City edged past Arsenal to the top of the Premier League. Fulham were beaten by an injury time penalty, City a light man for over an hour after Joao Cancelo was sent off.

At Bonfire Night, the champions looked ready to explode in a run that would skewer the rest. Pep Guardiola walked into the dressing room and made one of those famous moving speeches.

He told his players that they had produced one of the best displays of his tenure. Those present described the scenes as “emotional” and felt it was a defining moment for the season. Guardiola signed a new contract.

But what defines this latest title defense occurred in the space of 16 hours, from Sunday to Monday morning. Horrible at Tottenham: slow, heavy, giving away the winner, and then that statement bolt, posted on the Premier League website without warning.

If this plays out like the litany of controversies that have surrounded City in recent years, Guardiola will find himself pushed forward. There was a strong and slightly terse statement from the club within two hours on Monday and they will vigorously defend his position with the confidence of vindication. But if his reaction to the UEFA charges in 2020 is any good, we won’t be hearing much from the boardroom.

Then chief executive Ferran Soriano, who rarely speaks unless abroad or at a business conference, gave a brief club-produced interview, several days after they were banned from competing in Europe and hours before Guardiola’s first departure since the news. As for the others, President Khaldoon Al-Mubarak makes an end-of-season speech with the club’s website. Sheikh Mansour is never seen.

So most of it will probably be left to Guardiola. Again. Forced to sit there and take it as a spokesman for the club while the wagons of the world roll on once more.

A spokesperson for the club who was not employed by them when most of the charges allegedly occurred. Just as he was regarding the UEFA sanctions and subsequent appeal. As with the horrific crimes of Barry Bennell and City’s link to the pedophile.

Do you remember the question he was asked at Wembley after City lifted the FA Cup in 2019? It focused on the allegations where exactly Roberto Mancini’s salary had come from.

None of the City hierarchy have addressed the issue and here it is now, front and center on the Premier League charge sheet. Two months after that, no executives were present for a pre-season tour in China, leaving Guardiola navigating an exaggerated but uncomfortable storm over allegations that City had disrespected the country.

Guardiola loves the club. He says that he is an adopted Mancunian. His friends are here, he enjoys the golf courses of the Northwest, he enjoys the quiet hustle and bustle of the sprawling downtown, occasionally negotiating traffic on his bike to work.

He has fiercely defended the board on countless occasions, and even did so last Friday when asked about Chelsea’s expenses. The manager maintained that financial scrutiny is somewhat different when it comes to City, again criticizing Premier League rivals who wanted UEFA to place a European ban on his club, rattling off figures relating to declining net spending. of City.

He will now be watching developments with interest and highlights something he said last May. “Even if people don’t believe me, every word in my press conferences is what I really believe,” Guardiola said. ‘I defend the club and our people because I work with them.

‘When they are accused of something I ask them: ‘Tell me about it.’ They explain and I believe them. I told them: ‘If they lie to me, the next day, I’m not here. I’ll be away and I won’t be your friend anymore.

“I trust you because I believe you 100% from day one and that’s why I defend the club.” I’m a big fan of supporting this organization, for sure.’

We’ll see if that stance weakens in the coming weeks and months and if City can give them the kind of reassurances they need before Guardiola gets up and puts their helmet back on.

Oh, and they have a game on Sunday having lost three of their last eight since that speech after beating Fulham.