'Business as usual' for Man City Women despite Premier League guilty verdicts

What the report says

Manchester City women’s manager Andree Jeglertz has sought to keep the focus on football after the club was found guilty of Premier League financial breaches. Speaking ahead of City’s Women’s Champions League match against Real Madrid, he said it was “business as usual” for the team and declined to go further on whether the wider case could affect the women’s side.

BBC Sport reports that Jeglertz, who joined City last summer, was asked several questions about the charges before the club’s press officer moved the discussion on. Defender Jade Rose also said the players were following the club’s messaging and were concentrating on their preparation rather than the off-field issues. The squad held an open training session on Wednesday, and the article said there was no obvious change to their routine.

According to the Premier League, Manchester City were found guilty of breaches involving financial rules from the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons. The league said the club arranged “sham contracts” with commercial partners to disguise funding of more than £830m. City deny wrongdoing and have until 2 October to appeal. BBC Sport notes that the women’s team is subject to different regulations and that there is no active WSL investigation into the matter.

The women’s side are top of the WSL after four matches and play Real Madrid on Thursday. The case matters because it raises questions about possible reputational or operational effects on one of England’s leading women’s teams, even though no immediate impact has been confirmed.