Manchester City Women’s manager Andree Jeglertz has described it as “business as usual” for his team as the club deals with the fallout of being found guilty of Premier League financial breaches.
Jeglertz, who joined City last summer, did not comment on whether he had received assurances that the women’s team would not be impacted by the verdicts. Asked how the women’s side could be affected, he said: “I don’t want to comment more around that.” Seven questions relating to the charges were put to him in total before Manchester City’s press officer asked the media to move away from the subject.
The club has been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. The Premier League said City arranged “sham contracts” with a number of commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m. City continue to deny any wrongdoing and have until 2 October to submit an appeal.
The women’s team were the first representatives of the club to address the media since the guilty verdicts were confirmed by the Premier League. It is still unknown what impact the charges could have on the women’s team, though there is no active investigation taking place from WSL Football. The charges were breaches of Premier League rules, which are different financial regulations to those of the WSL, and they came at a time when the women’s league was under the governing body of the Football Association. There has been no suggestion so far that any WSL opponents have expressed concern over City’s charges, or whether they believe it has helped the women’s team progress.
City defender Jade Rose said the women’s players had received “the same messaging the public has” from the club. Asked whether the charges raised any concerns for the players, she added: “I’m just here to talk about the football. That’s what we’re focusing on.”
The team took part in an open training session earlier on Wednesday morning, and there did not appear to be any changes to their routine or behaviour. Therese Sjogran, director of women’s football at Manchester City, was in attendance for training, as she often is. A few additional media were present for Jeglertz and Rose’s press conference to preview their Women’s Champions League game against Real Madrid.
Jeglertz was asked about former men’s manager Pep Guardiola’s statement on social media, in which Guardiola voiced his support for the club. Asked whether he also stood beside the club, Jeglertz said: “Definitely. I am working at the club now so that’s who I am hired by and working with, so, for sure.”
The manager added that he did not find it more challenging to prepare for Thursday’s game despite the noise surrounding the club. “I don’t think so. We have been training like normal and doing the work we can do to affect the game,” he said. “We haven’t changed anything, we have just kept on doing everything we normally do. Definitely the thing the club has been presented, is the information we have inside of our group. We can’t talk about anything else and we don’t need to talk about anything else at the moment.”
Jeglertz also said he was not frustrated by the negative media attention despite City’s strong start to their WSL campaign. The defending champions currently have 12 points from their opening four matches and are top of the table. They face Real Madrid on Thursday (20:00 BST) in their second Women’s Champions League league phase match, having drawn their opener against Bayern Munich last week.