Man City CEO Ferran Soriano Faces Awkward Interview After Guilty Verdict

· GiveMeSport

Extremely awkward interview of Man City CEO Ferran Soriano goes viral immediately after guilty verdict.

An extremely awkward interview with Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has quickly gone viral. The clip emerged online soon after it was announced that the Etihad club were guilty of all Premier League charges.

An independent Commission has found Man City guilty of 115 financial breaches between 2009 and 2018. A statement from the Premier League explained that the club lied about over £900m, using ‘sham’ contracts to artificially inflate the club’s revenues and reduce its costs, while later failing to co-operate with the investigation.

While Man City have issued a strong statement in response – claiming they are innocent – club CEO Soriano did not seem quite as brash when approached for comment by Sky News journalist Rob Harris.

Soriano was appointed CEO of Manchester City in 2012 and worked with Roberto Mancini, Manuel Pellegrini and Pep Guardiola in over a decade at the Etihad. Speaking directly to Soriano, Harris asked: "The Premier League confirms you cheated for nearly a decade? Do you apologise for to football fans?"

The Spaniard replied: "I have nothing to say, thank you."

In the Premier League statement, it was notable how they used the word ‘sham’ when describing the contracts used to mislead over club revenues and costs between 2009/10 and 2017/18. In reference to this, reporter Harris asked the CEO more questions:

> "Are you sure you can win on appeal? Is this a sham club? Are you destroying football? Do you not have a message for football? When you've cheated for so long, do you not have an obligation?"

Amid all this, Soriano looked visibly flustered as he tried to dismiss the interviewer, repeatedly saying 'thank you' while ultimately walking away. The awkward clip has quickly gone viral on social media.

Behind the scenes, Soriano is understood to have already sent a video message to Man City staff. As per journalist Sam Lee, the CEO has stressed that 'the club will explore all legal avenues to win the case.' Adding to that, the Spaniard also told them that, regarding sponsorships, City provided ‘irrefutable evidence’ including ‘bank statements, money transfers, witnesses and everything necessary to categorically demonstrate that the money did not come from the owner.’

It turns out City have known about the verdict for some time now.

Man City have until Friday 2 October to appeal, and it's expected that they will do just that. A bullish club statement read:

> "Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission, that has been published today. The Club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case.

> "The Club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums."

> "Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.

> "The Club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence. The Club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete."

Read the original

People in this story

Related