Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has brushed aside any suggestion he could be caught up in the club’s financial breaches of the Premier League's financial breaches, as proven guilty by an independent commission.
Gianluigi Donnarumma will be at the forefront of talk on Manchester City's guilty verdict in the Italy National Team camp.
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Of all the figures who built the modern Manchester City, few are remembered more warmly by fans than the man who ended the club’s decades-long wait for a league title.
So it was not a surprise to see Roberto Mancini’s name drawn into the case now engulfing his former employers - or hear how little it appears to trouble him.
Speaking while on international duty with Italy, the coach who delivered City’s first Premier League crown was asked whether the controversy might eventually lead to problems for him on a personal level. His answer could hardly have been more dismissive.
Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has publicly defended the club in the wake of reports that an independent commission found them guilty on 114 of their alleged 115 Premier League financial rule breaches.cityxtra.co.uk"The Double Contracts Aren't My Problem" - Mancini Discusses Man City's Alleged Premier League Financial Rule Breaches
Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has publicly defended the club in the wake of reports that an independent commission found them guilty on 114 of their alleged 115 Premier League financial rule breaches.
The Guilty Verdict is City's Problem, It Doesn't Concern Me - Mancini Maintains Safe Distance From Former Employers
Quizzed on the matter before Italy’s 1-1 UEFA Nations League draw with France on Friday night, Mancini refused to entertain the idea that it was any concern of his.
“No. I already spoke about it the other night. It’s not something that concerns me. It’s City’s problem, unfortunately,” he said at the Stade de France, as quoted by ESPN. "It’s not a problem that concerns me."
In an earlier interview ahead of a UEFA Nations League fixture, his answer had been just as blunt. “Manchester City is not guilty,” Mancini said. "And the fact of having a double contract isn’t my problem but theirs, probably.”
The 'Double Contract' in the Spotlight
Mancini’s relaxed tone is notable given where his name crops up. The charges City were found to have breached include a claimed failure to declare accurate figures for payments to players and managers between 2009-18 - a span that includes his own reign.
The specifics trace back to 2018, when the German outlet Der Spiegel reported that Mancini’s £1.45million base salary had effectively been doubled through a side arrangement to advise a club based in Abu Dhabi.
According to allegations published in the Telegraph this week, Manchester City are accused of potentially sidestepping around £12 million owed in tax and National Insurance on the Italian’s pay.
Even so, Mancini himself appears entirely untroubled by the prospect of being implicated, and has repeatedly framed the whole business as a matter for the club rather than for him.
A Man City Hero Caught in the Story
There is plenty of irony in Mancini being tied to City’s darkest chapter, given his fondly remembered place in the club’s modern history.
Appointed in the wake of the 2008 takeover, he won the 2011 FA Cup before guiding City to that era-defining title in the 2011-12 season - the club's first English top-flight crown in 44 years, only to be dismissed days after a shock FA Cup final defeat by Wigan in 2013.
The club itself has rejected every accusation from the outset, and on Friday confirmed it had lodged an appeal against the independent commission’s ruling.
That verdict, published on Tuesday, declared City “guilty of all charges related to serious breaches” of the league’s financial regulations between 2009 and 2018 - a finding the club insists is unsafe, and one its former manager seems happy to watch unfold from a comfortable distance.