Pep Guardiola Indicts Himself After Manchester City’s £2.09 Million Fine For Delaying Kickoff

Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola has indicted himself in the £2.09 Million fine the Premier League slammed on the club for consistently delaying the start of matches and second-half kickoffs.

Pep Guardiola and his team, who are the reigning champions of the Premier League, committed 22 instances of delaying the kick-off and restart of league matches.

Their first offence, a delay of one minute and 18 seconds to the start of the second half against Crystal Palace in August 2022, resulted in a warning. However, subsequent breaches incurred fines based on the severity of the delay.

The longest delay was two minutes and 46 seconds for the start of the final game of the season against West Ham last season when City clinched a record fourth successive English title.

Reporters asked Pep Guardiola about the punishment ahead of Manchester City’s pre-season friendly against Chelsea at 10:30 p.m. later tonight, and the Spanish tactician admitted that he was aware of the development.

He went further to say that he would try to make his halftime team talks shorter, which implies that his lengthy team talk contributed to the delay.

Guardiola said: “I just read it in the news. I would try to make my speeches at halftime shorter.”

Note that the aforementioned fine is not connected to the 115 charges Manchester City are facing for alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations. If they are found guilty of the charges, they are likely to be relegated, amongst other punishments.