Former Manchester City captain Richard Dunne has revealed what he’s heard from inside the club about the ongoing 115 charges hearing and how it is impacting the squad.
The long-awaited hearing into City‘s alleged breaches of Premier League rules finally got underway on Monday following a lengthy investigation into the defending champions and their financial conduct.
The charges mainly relate to a nine-year period from 2009 to 2018, with City accused of various alleged rule breaches – all of which the club strenuously deny.
City have been accused of failing to provide accurate financial information, failing to provide accurate details for player and manager payments, breaching profit and sustainability rules (PSR), failing to comply with UEFA regulations including financial fair play (FFP) and failing to cooperate with Premier League investigations.
City’s hearing, which is being overseen by an independent commission in London, is set to last around two months – with a final decision not expected to come until next year at the earliest.
City claim they have “irrefutable evidence” to support their defence and “look forward to this matter being put to rest once and for all.”
Earlier this week, City manager Pep Guardiola claimed the rest of the Premier League are hoping for the defending champions to be punished even before a final verdict is reached.
Several punishments for City, should they be found guilty of all charges, have been touted – including fines, points deductions and even relegation from the Premier League.
However, former City star Aymeric Laporte says the first-team squad has previously been told by club chiefs that “not one rule” has been broken.
Dunne, who made 352 appearances for City between 2000 and 2009, echoed Laporte’s comments and insists there is little concern among the squad over the ongoing hearing.
“I don’t think there’s any worry, there’s no mention of it around the place,” Dunne told Virgin Media Ireland.
“I don’t think fans or members of the club have any real concerns over it. It is something that has been looming for a long time, so they’ve got used to the noise that comes with it.
City’s hearing began earlier this week (Image: Getty)
“They’ve always maintained their innocence and keeping saying until they’re proven guilty, leave them be. It is not affecting them on the pitch, that’s for certain. The way they’ve started the season, there’s been no signs of that.”
Commenting on the club’s message of reassurance to the first-team squad, Dunne added: “I think they were told them really early on in the situation that the club are innocent and it’s not going to affect the players. They believe that they’ve done the right thing and it’s not going to come back on the players.
“This group of players were not there from when the charges have come from so it’s no taint on what they’ve done for the club over the last five or six years. It’s a big, big story in terms of the Premier League and how football moves forward in the future.
“But in terms of the players and this group that they’ve got now, I don’t think it affects them an awful lot. The manager has always been very forward and he’s been told the club’s innocent.
“He trusts the people that he works for, so he’s happy to go on.”