Ex-coach Guardiola offers support to Man City amid calls for demotion

Former Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has offered his backing to the club after they were found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules, stating: "We will get through this together."

An independent commission on Tuesday concluded they "clearly intended to circumvent Premier League rules" over a nine-season period from 2009 to 2018 - including the start of Guardiola's reign.

The club now face the threat of severe sanctions, including a possible points deduction which could mean relegation, unless they are able to overturn the decision on appeal.

Guardiola, who left City at the end of last season after six league titles in a decade at the club, wrote on the Pep Team X account on Wednesday: "I want every single @ManCity fan to know I am here; more than ever. I am, always have been, always will, be behind my club, my owner, my chairman, Ferran, the players, staff, (coach) Enzo (Maresca) and you, our unique supporters.

"Let me be clear: we will get through this together.

"I love you all."

City chief executive Ferran Soriano told staff in a video message that the commission had gone along with the Premier League's "conspiracy theory."

The eight-times Premier League champions have already indicated their intention to appeal, and say the decision "contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe."

The Times newspaper meanwhile has reported that other top-flight clubs have contacted the league urging a conclusion to the case before the end of the season. The investigation has already lasted years.

City were found to have engaged in an almost £1 billion ($1.3 billion) scheme to either inflate revenues or reduce costs through a series of "sham" arrangements to avoid breaching league and UEFA financial regulations.

The chair of England's independent football regulator David Kogan said in a statement that the judgement "raises serious issues."

Former City defender Micah Richards meanwhile says the verdict has left him heartbroken.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Richards remarked: "The reports were troubling. I saw the words which were used by the Premier League in sham contracts and I felt absolutely devastated.

"I've been at that club since I was 14 years old, I would die for that club. I achieved my dream at Manchester City, but then to hear these reports, and not only me as an ex-player, but the fans, what they have to go through, absolutely devastating.

"To have a headline of this nature for a club that I love so much, it's been difficult. If you listen to the reports, they are damning. I feel saddened, I feel angry, I feel a lit bit confused because, on the other side, you have City's side of the story."

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane said, if he was a City player, he would throw all their title medals in the bin.

Speaking on ITV, Keane said: "They knew it would hurt a lot of people, but they've still done it, and, if I was a player, I'd be 100% sticking those medals in the bin.

"It's cheating. You're hearing nonsense about some ex-players saying, 'Oh well, they won on the pitch'. Because it was cheating. It was cheating going on."

Former City chairman David Bernstein, who spent five years in the role before stepping down in 2003 - five years before Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour bought the club, suggested radical action including a demotion.

He told BBC radio on Tuesday: "It is damning beyond belief. My immediate thoughts are, should the board continue? Should the people involved be suspended immediately?

"The sanctions cannot just be financial, so it's got to be way beyond that. If the appeal fails, Manchester City cannot stay in the league, they have to suffer. And I say that as a supporter and a fan."

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher feels sorry both for City's players and the players of other clubs who missed out on winning trophies.

"I feel for the players... they'll almost feel like a lot of their career is going to have an asterisk, or a lot of people will be calling it a sham," Carragher said on Sky Sports News.

"The players were told everything was fine, they would never get done for anything. What the hierarchy are coming out with now, they're just gaslighting.

"I think the titles should be taken off their (City's) list. Whether other clubs get them is probably slightly different. City have not just hurt their own players."

City's next match comes in the Premier League on October 11 against Liverpool, the club that have been their biggest rivals across the last decade and a half. The Reds missed out on the 2014 title to City.

"Liverpool are probably the biggest losers in all this," Carragher added.