Jesse Marsch, victim of the Manchester City scandal, demands their relegation: "Everyone knew about it"

Jesse Marsch , who was manager of Leeds United in the Premier League in 2022 and February 2023, has claimed that "everyone knew" that Manchester City was breaching the Premier League's financial rules long before the guilty verdict was issued .

'An independent commission found Manchester City guilty on 114 of the 115 charges , so the club could be relegated from the Premier League as a sanction.'

'When City said that, I literally thought: "Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke?"'

It was determined that the "citizen" entity used a "covert financing scheme" between 2009 and 2018 to conceal secret funds worth more than 1 billion euros .

Manchester City have consistently maintained their innocence and have filed an appeal that will considerably prolong the process.

'Jesse Marsch: "I think Manchester City should be severely punished. I believe they should be relegated"'

Jesse Marsch, who currently manages the Canada national football team , was Leeds' coach during the season of their relegation from the Premier League in 2022-23 (the one in which the financially doped City won the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup).

That summer (of 2022), we and Manchester City were the only teams that declared having made profits

"I think Manchester City should be punished severely. I think they should be relegated and, by the way, everyone knew it. Everyone knew it," the American coach told "The Guardian".

Marsch recalled that "that summer (of 2022), we and Manchester City were the only teams that declared having made profits. In our case, we really made money because we sold Raphinha (to Barcelona) and Kalvin Phillips (to City); we were left with a good margin compared to what we had paid for them".

At that moment, our financial situation did not allow us to afford the luxury of not saving. Our owners did not have significant financial resources

"At that time, our financial situation did not allow us to afford the luxury of not saving. Our owners did not have great financial resources. So when City said that, I literally thought: "Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke?" he emphasized.

The Canada coach acknowledges that when it was announced that City had signed Erling Haaland for more than 61 million euros, his reaction was "yeah, right, of course!" .

"That's football" , he noted regarding the incongruity of City being able to sign a football star while breaching the financial rules.

Another inconsistency Jesse Marsch recalls is that when Leeds were relegated in 2023, his team finished below both Everton and Nottingham Forest, teams that were later docked points for breaching the Premier League's financial rules.