Pep Guardiola noticed for first time since seismic responsible verdict towards Man City: Club’s former boss attends Paris Fashion Week alongside his daughter after breaking silence
Pep Guardiola has been spotted enjoying Paris Fashion Week, marking the first time the former Manchester City manager has been seen in public since the bombshell verdict.
It has been a turbulent week for the decorated Spanish football manager. First, there was the seismic announcement of Manchester City’s guilty verdict for financial rule-breaking over a nine-year period, two years of which Guardiola was in charge.
Then the Negreira scandal reared up again in Spain, with 50,000 pages of evidence compiled by Real Madrid landing at UEFA on Thursday, accusing arch-rivals Barcelona of making illicit payments to an influential referees’ chief. The allegations also cover a four-year period during which Guardiola was in charge of the Catalan side.
For Guardiola, who departed City in the summer saying he needed to rest and ‘take a step back’, the past few weeks have been anything but peaceful, with his glittering legacy coming under scrutiny like never before.
Victoria Beckham‘s fashion show certainly appeared to provide some welcome relief, then. Guardiola enjoyed the evening at the Conciergerie, located at 2 Boulevard du Palais, once a medieval royal palace and French Revolution prison, alongside his daughter Valentina on Friday night.
He looked effortlessly stylish as he leaned against a lamppost in the French capital, wearing a striped black shirt and dark trousers as he entertained frequent requests for photographs.
Guardiola enjoyed the evening at the Conciergerie, located at 2 Boulevard du Palais, once a medieval royal palace and French Revolution prison, alongside his daughter Valentina
It marked the first time Guardiola has been spotted in public since City’s bombshell verdict
After leaving City in the summer, Guardiola said of his plans for the future: ‘Rest. No plans to train for a while. Otherwise I would be here. I need to step back, I will not train for a while,’ he said. ‘Many people when I said it will be my last season said after three months you will come back. I don’t think so, I will take a while, but I have to prove to myself (that I need a rest).’
Whether he feels differently now that demands are being made for two of his three clubs to be stripped of the glittering array of titles he won remains to be seen.
In the case of City, there has been no suggestion that Guardiola was complicit in any of the financial doping.
He firmly planted his flag with his former employers earlier this week, writing on social media: ‘I want every single Man City 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 (Soriano, CEO), the players, staff, Enzo (Maresca, manager) and you, our unique supporters.
‘Let me be clear: we will get through this together. I love you all.’
The club were accused by the top flight of ‘sham’ deals during the period they became the major force in English football.
In a damning 40-page verdict, City artificially inflated sponsorship agreements and pumped money into the club from its Abu Dhabi owners via disguised payments in a bid to swerve Premier League spending rules.
The eight-times champions were found guilty of ‘all charges related to serious breaches’ of the regulations and the majority of those in relation to its failure to co-operate with the competition’s probe.
City witnesses were also accused of lying in front of the three-person panel, in an explosive verdict that sent further shockwaves through football after news of the guilty verdicts first emerged on Friday.
During press conferences across his tenure, Guardiola always said he ‘trusted’ those in charge of the club and said he would front up to them if and when they were proven
During press conferences across his tenure, Guardiola always said he ‘trusted’ those in charge of the club when quizzed on the charges and said he would front up to them if and when they were proven.
As for Barcelona, they have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing against allegations that they paid more than £7million in a series of payments over 17 years from 2001 to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira when he was vice president of Spain’s technical committee of referees.
Guardiola was head coach of Barca for four seasons in the heart of this era, from 2008 to 2012, during which he created a team generally accepted to be among the best to ever play the game.
The club claim the money was paid for scouting and technical reports provided by a company belonging to 81-year-old Negreira since the story broke in 2023.
At the time, Barcelona president Joan Laporta said: ‘Let it be clear Barca have never bought referees and Barca never had the intention of buying referees, absolutely never.’
LaLiga claimed they were unable to investigate because of the time elapsed since the alleged offences were so far in the past.
UEFA did launch an investigation although it appeared to be going cold until the matter resurfaced this year as Florentino Perez ran for re-election as president of Real Madrid with promises to get to the bottom of what he called ‘the biggest scandal in history’.
On Thursday, UEFA issued a statement to confirm a ‘substantial amount of documents’ had landed at the door of its ethics and disciplinary inspectors and will be assessed.
