Haaland Tells Man City Fans to "Stick Together" as Maresca Addresses Guilty Verdict for First Time
Erling Haaland has urged Manchester City supporters to stay positive and stick together as the club heads into its first match since being found guilty of financial rule breaches, while boss Enzo Maresca publicly addressed the verdict for the first time, insisting the players and staff "trust completely" the club.
Manchester City return to action under a cloud this weekend, and their two biggest figures have broken their silence. In an interview with Sky Sports, Erling Haaland was asked for a message to the club's travelling fans ahead of Sunday's trip to Anfield, and he struck a defiant note: the players and supporters have to stick together, stay positive, and keep smiling no matter what happens. The Norwegian was not pressed on the charges themselves. The context is seismic. On September 29 the Premier League announced that an independent commission had found City guilty of all charges of serious financial rule breaches across nine seasons, from 2009-10 through 2017-18, plus most of the charges relating to the club's failure to cooperate with the investigation. City have maintained their innocence and filed an appeal on October 1, with potential punishments ranging from relegation and points deductions to stripped titles or even a forced sale of the Abu Dhabi-owned club. Maresca, speaking to the club's in-house media for the first time since the ruling, said he was "very calm" and that the squad was focused only on football, describing the mood in training as fantastic. City sit top of the league and the Italian is due to face the press on Friday morning before a clash Liverpool will view as deeply personal — the Reds finished runners-up to City in 2013-14, one of the seasons covered by the guilty verdict.