Manchester City Boss Defends City’s Financial Fair-Play Policy after Criticism

December 6, 2011

Manchester City boss, Roberto Mancini, has blasted Bayern Munich’s persistent criticism of City’s spending leading them to breaking financial fair-play regulations.

Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, 56, has been one of City’s more outspoken critics, along with the Bayern president, Uli Hoeness, and the German club’s honorary president, Franz Beckenbauer, because of the problems at the Etihad Stadium when it comes to Uefa’s financial fair-play regulations.

Rummenigge played for a decade at Bayern from 1974, winning 95 Germany caps and in an interview he urged UEFA to enforce ‘strict penalties’ on City for breaking the rules.

Mancini said: “I don’t understand his behaviour. We’re working hard with the financial rules. There are other clubs with financial fair play play problems not just City.”

With Uefa’s financial fair play rules being implemented from next season, all clubs taking part in European competitions will have to break even by 2014.

And Mancini added: “I don’t know why an important man like him, from a big club, and a great player, keeps talking about us. I want to ask him after the game.

“I think everybody is worried about Manchester City becoming one of the great clubs. But why is he always talking about us?”

Mancini was also unhappy with Aurelio De Laurentiis’s recent criticisms of City, when the Napoli president and notoriously outspoken film-maker predicted that Sheikh Mansour and his Abu Dhabi United Group would become bored and look for another “toy.”

“Fortunately, Sheikh Mansour is not Italian,” Mancini said. “He [De Laurentiis] doesn’t know Sheik Mansour. Sheikh Mansour is a good man and we can’t think about these stupid comments.”